File:Dust storm off West Africa (MODIS 2017-01-07).jpg

English: A blanket of Saharan dust blew over western Africa and the North Atlantic Ocean, covering the Cape Verde Islands in late December 2016. The Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) aboard NASA’s Terra satellite captured this true-color image on December 25.

Black lines have been overlain on the image to indicate political boundaries. From north to south, the countries which are under the dust storm include Western Sahara, Mauritania, Senegal, The Gambia, Guinea-Bissau, and Guinea. Parts of Senegal lie both to the north and to the south of the narrow profile of The Gambia.

The Cape Verde Islands lie in the Atlantic Ocean about 350 mi (570 km) off the coast of Senegal, The Gambia, and Mauritania. Some of the islands can be seen near the large bank of cloud in the western section of the image, but most of the islands are obscured from view by either the white cloud or tan dust.

According to multiple news sources, the sand storm disrupted flights from many of the Cape Verde Islands from December 25 to December 28. Many tourists vacationing in the region who planned to fly home after the holiday on December 25 (Christmas Day) found themselves grounded repeatedly from the intermittent waves of heavy sand which created dangerously low visibility for several days.