Look at the sun in this picture:

The reason it’s hazy is mostly not due to cloud cover, but because of the Harmattan, a dry, dusty wind which blows south from the Sahara at this time of year.

The change in climate it brings is quite dramatic. Yesterday (Tuesday) at around midday, there was a strong wind – so strong that doors slammed in my house. I thought “I seems like it’s going to rain, but it’s December and it never rains in December.” It was the Harmattan arriving. Within minutes, the humidity levels had dropped and the average temperature was a couple of degrees lower, for which we’re very glad indeed. I was getting through 3-6 shirts a day before this, but a lot less now it’s drier and cooler (only around 26 degrees C in the morning!)

As December progresses, it should get stronger still (and is always much thicker in the north of the country). I’ll post more pics if it gets as strong as it did last January or March. Finally, here’s a view of the Harmattan taken from space. Wow!

(Taken from the ‘Washington University in St Louis’ site. Here’s the home page and here’s the link for the photo above).

That’s all folks!