ABSTRACT
Dust storms are meteorological hazards that arise when strong winds blow loose sand and dust from a dry surface. They affect many arid and semi-arid regions of the world including North Africa and the Sahel, southern Europe, the Middle East, central and East Asia, Australia and the western United States. The airborne dust emitted from these regions is a key atmospheric constituent and represents an important natural source of atmospheric particulate matter. A timescale of great interest is the sub-seasonal one, typically involving forecasts of weekly averages of variables like rainfall or temperature, a few weeks ahead. Sub-seasonal forecasts are particularly relevant to the prediction of heat waves – providing a potential bridge between seasonal risk assessments, seasonal forecasts and weather warnings. India faces a challenging array of climate-health threats, and among the most prominent are heat waves. Heat waves in 2010 and 2015 killed thousands of people in India.
