I've been coughing a lot more these last couple of days and didn't think much of it, till Joe mentioned that this is when the sand storms are bound to hit. Sometime right around spring every year is when they start rolling in from China. If you've been watching the news about the war, apparently some of them have also been plaguing the troops fighting too. You see they come accross the desserts of asia, and spread both east and west, due in large part to deforestation. I have noticed that the mountains, this past week, haven't been quite as visible as usual. Could this be why? Check out this article I found. It's a little old, but it'll do for now.

http://www.china.org.cn/english/environment/48751.htm