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An immense yellow-brown cloud of dirty air has been blowing eastward around
the globe during the past week, after a powerful early-April storm lifted dust
from the Gobi Desert. The cloud hit the US Pacific coast over Easter weekend and
obscured normally clear spring skies. As New Scientist went to press
the cloud had reached the Great Lakes and was still on the move. US Navy
meteorologist Douglas Westphal says the dense, low-level haze from Asia contains
sulphates and other pollutants as well as dust, and its path over the US is
worrying. He says such pollution-laden plumes could become more common if China
continues to industrialise at its present rate.