Volcanic Smoke from Cumbre Vieja Eruption Is Affecting The Caribbean

[abajan]

The Barbados Meteorological Services has stated in a post on their Facebook page that volcanic smoke from the Cumbre Vieja eruption is affecting Barbados.

[AlphaToOmega]

The GEOS-5 Dust Extinction does not show much dust reaching the Caribbean.

[abajan]

The GEOS-5 Dust Extinction does not show much dust reaching the Caribbean.

The smoke may not have much particulate matter. At first, I thought volcanic smoke is just another name for volcanic ash. But, according to this article, the former is comprised of water vapor, carbon dioxide and sulfur gases, and may [or may not] contain ash.

[galaxy401]

Could this have an effect on why the Caribbean has been dead this October regarding tropical development or is it too minimal of an inhibiting factor?

[Category5Kaiju]

Could this have an effect on why the Caribbean has been dead this October regarding tropical development or is it too minimal of an inhibiting factor?

Pretty sure there's minimal impact, in 2018 when Kilauea was erupting in Hawaii that did not stop activity in the EPAC from being hyperactive, let alone having multiple Cat 4+ storms like Hector, Lane, Norman, and Olivia come very close to Hawaii

[Hammy]

There aren't really any disturbances making it there in the first place--the ITCZ is pushed too far south.

It took massive events like Pinatubo in 1991 and El Chichón in 1982 in conjunction with El Nino to disrupt hurricane activity.

[FireRat]

I have a feeling that the Mt. Pelee eruption of 1902 thru 1905 may have caused those seasons to be very slow. This volcano is in the Caribbean too, would be an interesting study subject imo.

Whether Cumbre Vieja will continue affecting the end of this season and 2022 will remain to be seen, but it could be a factor to consider!

[al78]

Could this have an effect on why the Caribbean has been dead this October regarding tropical development or is it too minimal of an inhibiting factor?

Pretty sure there's minimal impact, in 2018 when Kilauea was erupting in Hawaii that did not stop activity in the EPAC from being hyperactive, let alone having multiple Cat 4+ storms like Hector, Lane, Norman, and Olivia come very close to Hawaii

Isn't the E Pacific basin upstream of Hawaii, whereas the Caribbean is downstream of the Canary islands, assuming volcanic gases/ash would be carried in the trade winds, so I wouldn't expect Kilauea to have any impact on the E Pacific. If anything it would have an impact on the W Pacific.

[Yellow Evan]

Could this have an effect on why the Caribbean has been dead this October regarding tropical development or is it too minimal of an inhibiting factor?

Pretty sure there's minimal impact, in 2018 when Kilauea was erupting in Hawaii that did not stop activity in the EPAC from being hyperactive, let alone having multiple Cat 4+ storms like Hector, Lane, Norman, and Olivia come very close to Hawaii

Isn't the E Pacific basin upstream of Hawaii, whereas the Caribbean is downstream of the Canary islands, assuming volcanic gases/ash would be carried in the trade winds, so I wouldn't expect Kilauea to have any impact on the E Pacific. If anything it would have an impact on the W Pacific.

Which was also anything but quiet in 2018.

[AnnularCane]

Could this have an effect on why the Caribbean has been dead this October regarding tropical development or is it too minimal of an inhibiting factor?

Not sure how true, but found this excerpt at stormcarib.com:

"A volcano in the Canary Islands that erupted towards the end of September was the wild card this year pumping more dry air and ash into the MDR that wasn't expected by any means. This just dried out the atmosphere, inhospitable to storm formation when usually, it's quite humid."