So what's causing it - and how long will it last? Well, a part of it is Saharan dust that's currently blowing into the region - but the biggest part of it is forest fires - and not just the ones in Belize. Central America and Mexico have seen record levels of wildfires since the beginning of 2024.
Today we asked the chief met officer about the environmental conditions:
Ronald Gordon, Chief Meteorologist
"In the short term, looking at the models, I'm seeing a plume of dust coming across the Atlantic into the Caribbean. What has not occurred, it hasn't come all the way here in terms of that concentration."
"Like I said, there's a mild amount of dust, but not as concentrated as would occur over the Eastern Caribbean as you would expect. However, from my own knowledge, the Saharan dust doesn't peak around until about in July."
"So we are still in the early part of that particular phenomenon. What has been affecting us more is the smoke. And those are as a direct consequence of the burning of fires, especially over Central America."
"So if you look at, we have satellite imagery that shows us hot spots. And when you look at Nicaragua and Honduras, you can see those places are basically red, completely red on the map, indicating that there's a lot of fires being burned over that area."
"And the smoke has been transported northward towards the country. We do have some also fires occurring over Belize as well, but not as concentrated as in those countries."
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