# Calima



## Rewined

Hi all, I was looking for the translation of this term, initially wordreference says is “haze” but I think this is not the exact meaning I’m looking for. Calima is also how we call in Spanish the dry and full of particles air mass that comes sometimes from the Subsaharian area, is there a word for that?
Thank you


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## MonsieurGonzalito

It should be Calima, capitalized and untranslated.
For example:
Wind of the World: Calima | weatheronline.co.uk


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## Circunflejo

Rewined said:


> wordreference says is “haze” but I think this is not the exact meaning I’m looking for.


 Why do you think so?


MonsieurGonzalito said:


> It should be Calima, capitalized and untranslated.


But that's the name of the wind and @Rewined isn't asking for the wind but for a


Rewined said:


> dry and full of particles air mass


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## Bevj

Isn't_ Calima_ the air which blows up from the Sahara full of sand, which it then drops all over cars and buildings?  If so, then 'haze' isn't the right word.  _Haze_ does not give any indication of the sand/dust in the atmosphere.


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## Circunflejo

Bevj said:


> Isn't_ Calima_ the air which blows up from the Sahara full of sand, which it then drops all over cars and buildings?


Yes, that's the most well-known calima in Spain and the one that @Rewined is talking about but calima has a broader meaning.


Bevj said:


> _Haze_ does not give any indication of the sand/dust in the atmosphere.


Really? I think that grains of sand definitely qualify as small, dry particles.


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## Bevj

Yes, but a _haze_ is not necessarily a phenomenon caused by sandy particles.
A _heat haze_, for example, is caused by the temperature of the air and doesn't mean that there is any sand or dust in it.
A smoky atmosphere could also be_ hazy,_


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## Penyafort

Calima is haze, after all, if we go by the general meaning. But the one the OP means, that is, the one usually affecting the Canary Islands, should be specified as that haze caused by the so-called SAL (Saharan Air Layer).


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## Masood

_Sahara/Saharan dust _(British English).
We had this the other day in the south of England.


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## Circunflejo

Bevj said:


> Yes, but a _haze_ is not necessarily a phenomenon caused by sandy particles.


Calima isn't it either.


Masood said:


> _Sahara/Saharan dust _(British English).
> We had this the other day in the south of England.


It might be a solution but was the dust _thick_ enough as to seem haze?


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## Lamarimba

Hoy tenemos calima en mi ciudad. Es polvo rojizo del Sahara lo que hay en el aire.


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## Circunflejo

Lamarimba said:


> Hoy tenemos calima en mi ciudad.


Llegó hasta la mía...


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## Mister Draken

Y parece que llegará a Países Bajos y Alemania:

España quedó cubierta por polvo del Sahara: los videos del impactante fenómeno | El viento del desierto también llegará a Alemania y Países Bajos


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## Aguas Claras

The UK newspapers seem to be calling it "Saharan dust".


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## Mister Draken

Aguas Claras said:


> The UK newspapers seem to be calling it "Saharan dust".


The problem with "Saharan dust" is that calima is a metereological/atmospheric phenomenon that occurs in many places: Caracas, Panama City, Kuala Lumpur, Monterrey (Mexico), Northern Chile (Atacama desert and Pacific coast), etc. 

Calima (meteorología) - Wikipedia, la enciclopedia libre


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## pollohispanizado

Mister Draken said:


> The problem with "Saharan dust" is that calima is a metereological/atmospheric phenomenon that occurs in many places: Caracas, Panama City, Kuala Lumpur, Monterrey (Mexico), Northern Chile (Atacama desert and Pacific coast), etc.
> 
> Calima (meteorología) - Wikipedia, la enciclopedia libre


I don't see why they all need the same name. Hurricanes, monsoons, typhoons and cyclones are basically all the same meteorological phenomenon but have different names depending on the area of the world they happen in. (According to the English version of the Wikipedia page you linked, it's just called "haze", which no English speakers here seem to agree with.)


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## Mister Draken

pollohispanizado said:


> I don't see why they all need the same name. Hurricanes, monsoons, typhoons and cyclones are basically all the same meteorological phenomenon but have different names depending on the area of the world they happen in. (According to the English version of the Wikipedia page you linked, it's just called "haze", which no English speakers here seem to agree with.)


 In English "calima" could be used as a loan from Spanish, for a change.


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## gato radioso

As far as I know, calima used to describe a type of fog caused in summer when it's too hot and humid at the same time (bochorno: more frequent in the coast, as somehow opposed to the dry heat you usually find in interior areas).
I guess you need more elements to describe that phenomenon of heat waves coming from Africa and so one, otherwise, if the context doesn't explain it either, I wouldn't understand offhand what they're saying.


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## pollohispanizado

Mister Draken said:


> In English "calima" could be used as a loan from Spanish, for a change.


It could be, indeed, though it would probably be confusing to the vast majority of people who don't know Spanish. Plus, it would be rather unnecessary, as it seems that they are already calling it "Saharan dust" in the UK (I have never heard of this phenomenon in North America and doubt it has a name here other than "sand storm" or something).


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## pollohispanizado

gato radioso said:


> As far as I know, calima used to describe a type of fog caused in summer when it's too hot and humid at the same time


That's what I always thought, but just now I checked the DLE:



> calima1
> De _calina,_ infl. por _bruma._
> 
> 1. f. Accidente atmosférico consistente en partículas de polvo o arena en suspensión, cuya densidad dificulta la visibilidad.


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## gato radioso

pollohispanizado said:


> That's what I always thought, but just now I checked the DLE:


Ohh, that DLE caught me out  ! I've always said it wrong...poor me.
(It usually happens with dictionaries, by the way...)


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## pollohispanizado

gato radioso said:


> Ohh, that DLE caught me out  ! I've always said it wrong...poor me.
> (It usually happens with dictionaries, by the way...)


Parece que hay mucha confusión con estos términos, tanto en español cuanto en inglés. Pero creo que es el DLE que no se atiene a como se usa la palabra. De otro diccionario:



> calina, calima
> 
> Bruma muy tenue que enturbia ligeramente el ambiente, especialmente en épocas calurosas


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## OtroLencho

pollohispanizado said:


> (I have never heard of this phenomenon in North America and doubt it has a name here other than "sand storm" or something).



In Phoenix, Arizona, every year the winds off the desert would cause "dust storms" which everyone labeled with that term.


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## slyjackhammer

OtroLencho said:


> In Phoenix, Arizona, every year the winds off the desert would cause "dust storms" which everyone labeled with that term.



Growing up in New Mexico and Texas we often had dust storms (which we endearingly called dirt devils 😄), which I think can be compared to the haboob of larger desert regions.

However, I don't know that this is the same phenomenon. Those are associated with ground- or low-level dust pushed by fairly high winds, whereas the _calima_ that we've experienced here in Spain is much finer dust everywhere in the atmosphere, and not just when there is wind on the ground. In Málaga it has resulted in muddy rain since we've had this accompanied by heavy rain, and at least in my experience, rain never accompanied dust storms.

This would lead me to look for some other term besides _dust storm/haboob_, perhaps the borrowed _calima_ that some have suggested, although it might be too broad? _Haze_ is definitively too broad.


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## Madrid Tiger

I think the point is that calima means different things in different parts of the Spanish-speaking world.
Here in Spain, it definitely means a particular weather phenomenon, when Saharan dust is lifted high into the atmosphere and is either carried west to the Canary Islands or north to the Iberian Peninsula. The whole sky becomes overcast with this orange-gray dust, which gradually settles, hanging in the air (much to the dismay of contact lens users and people with respiratory problems) and alighting on everything in a layer that can range from a light dusting to an inch thick. Everything feels dusty and gritty, beginning with your hands and face. It’s very specific – and thus, unsurprisingly, there is no accurate translation in English. When referring to this specific phenomenon, IMHO, one should simply borrow the word and use calima.


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## nelliot53

The Sahara Desert Dust (*Polvo del Sahara*) is what we call *calima* here in the Caribbean, for it is a summer atmospheric event of air-suspended sand particles producing a very thick haze.


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## Marsianitoh

gato radioso said:


> Ohh, that DLE caught me out  ! I've always said it wrong...poor me.
> (It usually happens with dictionaries, by the way...)


It depends on which dictionary you check according to the DPD calina | Diccionario panhispánico de dudas calina/calima means : "Niebla tenue que enturbia el aire y suele contener vapores de agua".
That's the meaning I'm used to, the humid haze that it's not uncommon here.  We also use it for a haze caused by dust because whatever the cause, they both blur the  vision ( anyway it's a rather unusual phenomenon in these parts).
In Basque we call the first one "gandua" ( haze) and the second one " hauts- gandua" ( dust-haze), don't you think that " dust- haze" could also work in English????


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## gato radioso

Marsianitoh said:


> It depends on which dictionary you check according to the DPD calina | Diccionario panhispánico de dudas calina/calima means : "Niebla tenue que enturbia el aire y suele contener vapores de agua".
> That's the meaning I'm used to, the humid haze that it's not uncommon here.  We also use it for a haze caused by dust because whatever the cause, they both blur the  vision ( anyway it's a rather unusual phenomenon in these parts).
> In Basque we call the first one "gandua" ( haze) and the second one " hauts- gandua" ( dust-haze), don't you think that " dust- haze" could also work in English????


Exacto, eso es lo que siempre he pensado. En cuanto a dust haze... espera algún nativo, no sé, pero me da la impresión que, aunque exista, es una palabra no muy usual en un registro más o menos informal.


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## Socal3661

Lamarimba said:


> Hoy tenemos calima en mi ciudad. Es polvo rojizo del Sahara lo que hay en el aire.


Aquí en Cantabria también


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## Madrid Tiger

nelliot53 said:


> The Sahara Desert Dust (*Polvo del Sahara*) is what we call *calima* here in the Caribbean, for it is a summer atmospheric event of air-suspended sand particles producing a very thick haze.


I had forgotten that the calima sometimes reaches as far as the Caribbean! If I’m not misremembering, a few years ago the high atmospheric winds even swept it all the way to NYC.


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## Circunflejo

Madrid Tiger said:


> I had forgotten that the calima sometimes reaches as far as the Caribbean!


And the Amazon!


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## Madrid Tiger

According to Merriam-Webster, “haze” can be caused by dust, smoke, or vapor (water vapor, I assume). “Dust haze” is a logical solution, but it only describes the effect when the dust reaches its final destination, not how it got there. Likewise, “Sarahan dust” describes what’s _in_ the air, but not how it got there, the phenomenon of it being swept high up in the air and blown hundreds and even thousands of kilometers before eventually settling to earth again.
“Calima” is more specific and precise than either. Why not simply borrow calima (we borrow words constantly) and explain the word after the first use? That’s how every borrowed word enters the language. And that’s what the reporters of the linked New York Times article did. They also used “dust storm”, but I don’t think that’s very accurate; it’s not a storm, it’s a wind.

Saharan Sands Float North to Europe, Coating Cities With Dust


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## Madrid Tiger

The Diccionario de la Real Academia Española defines “calima” as:
1. f. Accidente atmosférico consistente en partículas de polvo o arena en suspensión, cuya densidad dificulta la visibilidad.


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