CBS News Miami · Jun 13, 2022 corroborates
Miami Weather: Saharan dust, no showers or storms
CBS Miami reported on June 13 that Saharan dust was arriving in South Florida that Monday and would remain in the region.
Dust Likely
2022-06-13 June 2022 Saharan dust plume episode
Daily PM2.5 peaked at 21.2 µg/m³ near Cape Coral across 1 covered metro home to 860,959 people.
Why we think this happened
The basis for “Dust”
Two independent South Florida weather reports on the exact date say Saharan dust was arriving and spreading over South Florida and the Gulf, while a peer-reviewed reconstruction places the same plume in the Gulf. The local daily value is therefore likely dust-influenced.
Likely Applicable reporting or a supported inference makes this the best current causal explanation.
WSVN 7Weather · Jun 13, 2022 corroborates
Steamy sunshine to begin the new week
WSVN reported on June 13 that Saharan dust was settling into South Florida and the Gulf and would produce a hazy week.
Evidence path
From source to city
A cause is more convincing when the record connects three things: something happened, the air mass moved toward the region, and local instruments responded. Here is how much of that chain is documented for this event.
- 1Documented
Source or mechanism
Dust
CBS Miami reported on June 13 that Saharan dust was arriving in South Florida that Monday and would remain in the region.
View supporting source ↗ - 2Research gap
Air-mass movement
The transport path has not been reconstructed
The retained record does not yet show how air traveled from the proposed source to these metros. A trajectory replay or dated plume analysis belongs here.
- 3Documented
Local response
21.2 µg/m³ near Cape Coral
EPA monitors recorded the event across 1 metro. The peak daily concentration is roughly 1.0 cigarette-equivalents at the outdoor daily rate.
Inspect the pollutant and weather signals ↓
Event autopsy
What the instruments saw
Before, during, and after the episode: nearby pollutant monitors and surface-weather stations show what changed. This context tests the “Dust” explanation; it does not assign the cause by itself.
Cape Coral-Fort Myers, FL
Monitor comparison window 2022-06-10 to 2022-06-16 · PM2.5 target: Winkler Pump Station
54% above nearby days
81% higher than surrounding days
Pollution fingerprint
Metro-wide median of reporting monitors PM2.5 20.8 µg/m³
54% higher than surrounding days
Before10.1 µg/m³ Event20.8 µg/m³ After13.5 µg/m³
PM10 68 µg/m³
81% higher than surrounding days
Before26.5 µg/m³ Event68 µg/m³ After37.5 µg/m³
Ozone 0.022 ppm
About the same as surrounding days
Before0.020 ppm Event0.022 ppm After0.030 ppm
Source: U.S. EPA AirData daily observations and, where available, nearby ASOS/AWOS surface observations. Values are descriptive medians over the retained monitor set; missing measurements remain missing. Transport and source evidence remain separate layers because this instrument pattern does not assign a cause by itself.
Measured daily PM2.5 at EPA monitors, as cigarette-equivalents
EPA monitors sit in metro areas, so the colour clusters there. Land between and beyond
them is unmeasured, not clean: this map shows where IAQng has readings, not the extent
of the smoke.
—
Episode peak
-- cigarettes
The smoke map's scale, replayed over this event: the surface interpolates between covered metros' daily records, framed to the affected region. Hover for a reading, click a metro to pin it to the card. Days a monitor did not report draw nothing.
Affected metros
| Metro | Peak PM2.5 | Cigarettes, whole event | Peak day | All-time standing |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Cape Coral-Fort Myers, FL | 21.2 µg/m³ | 1.0 | Jun 13, 2022 | #23 of its top days |
"Cigarettes, whole event" totals a metro's ranked event days at 22 µg/m³ per cigarette: what a person outdoors there breathed across the event, as the illustration. "All-time standing" is where this episode's days sit in each metro's ranked record (worst-area measure, since 1999). Full local context is on each metro's Air Records page.
Public evidence library
What supports this account
Each card states what a source supports—and what it does not. Official records, research, reporting, community observations, and transparent inferences remain visibly different kinds of evidence.
Expanded Regulatory Significance of Saharan Dust Plumes
Environmental Science & Technology
The study traces a Saharan plume into the Gulf on June 13, 2022, but the accessible passage places the core over the western Gulf.
What it supports
Context for the event; this item does not establish the attributed cause by itself.
Limit
Exact Fort Myers surface impact on June 13 is not established.
Miami Weather: Saharan dust, no showers or storms
CBS News Miami
CBS Miami reported on June 13 that Saharan dust was arriving in South Florida that Monday and would remain in the region.
What it supports
A retained source supports the attributed cause for the stated place and dates.
Limit
The report is regional and does not quantify the Cape Coral monitor's dust fraction.
Steamy sunshine to begin the new week
WSVN 7Weather
WSVN reported on June 13 that Saharan dust was settling into South Florida and the Gulf and would produce a hazy week.
What it supports
A retained source supports the attributed cause for the stated place and dates.
Limit
The report covers the broader South Florida region rather than a specific Fort Myers monitor.
What remains uncertain
- No source apportions the exact daily PM2.5 mass at the Cape Coral monitor.
Status and provenance
Likely Applicable reporting or a supported inference makes this the best current causal explanation.
This episode was grouped from the monitor record by the catalog pipeline and given its cause from the evidence listed above. It has not been individually reviewed and signed off, so its boundaries, cause, and name may change as evidence accumulates. Grouping policy common_sense_root_cause_grouping.v2. The cause label reflects the assembled evidence above, not an IAQng detection formula. If it is wrong, tell us.