There is a risk of Moderate or High levels of air pollution across parts of England and Wales on Thursday due to Saharan dust, although large uncertainties remain with the timing and amount of dust. Elsewhere, levels of air pollution are expected to be Low.

Over the next day or so the mild southerly airflow currently affecting the UK brings an increased chance of seeing some Saharan dust. This dust has been lifted from its source in west Africa by strong winds and is being blown northwards as it is caught up in the weather systems heading towards the UK.

 Increased levels of dust are only expected for a short period of time. Levels should rise in southwestern parts of England on Wednesday evening and spread across other parts of England and Wales during Wednesday night and Thursday. A band of rain associated with a cold front will bring a change of airmass from the Atlantic, pushing the dust clear of the east coast of England by the end of Thursday. The rain may lead to some deposits of dust being left on surfaces.

http://uk-air.defra.gov.uk/forecasting/

Looks like its been downgraded so the worst of it has missed us. Plenty of eastern England is still under a moderate watch though.

According the Express, we should all be choking to death by now. In the absence of killer freezes, they have to come up with something!

http://cdn.images.express.co.uk/img/covers/287x361front/2015-12-17.jpg

It seems quite unlike the last period where the sahara dust was implicated in smoggy conditions down south as it's too windy.
That newspaper story is so OTT, I wonder if the authors have the memory span of goldfish and don't remember what they wrote the day before - so it doesn't matter how off the scale ridiculous it was.