A couple of days ago, the skies in European cities had a yellowish-orange tinge. The reason? A powerful Southerly airflow that brought with it sand from the Sahara across the Mediterranean Sea.
This dust was suspended in the atmosphere and could be seen in the skies in France as well as the snow in Switzerland, reports The Guardian. According to BBC, while the phenomenon itself is common, meteorologists believe that the winds were stronger than usual.
A major intrusion of #Saharan sand and dust has dramatically altered the skies over parts of Europe today.
📷 Southern Swiss Alps, from Nax, from Suzy Nelson Pollard.
Details of WMO's Sand and Dust Storm warning advisory and assessment system herehttps://t.co/fQJENSs4tQ pic.twitter.com/R2PzSkBTH2
— World Meteorological Organization (@WMO) February 6, 2021
🌬️ Winds carrying sand from the Sahara desert turn the sky and snow orange in parts of southern Europehttps://t.co/Y6CM6ca4Zk pic.twitter.com/mWK1EH2fKM
— BBC News (World) (@BBCWorld) February 7, 2021
Here are the photos and videos of nature’s own sepia filter which people think looks like Martian landscape.
Dust from Sahara has turned Andorra into a martian landscape! #andorra
🎥 @montpackers pic.twitter.com/kgjwqAg0Iw
— Scott Duncan (@ScottDuncanWX) February 6, 2021
😱😱😱📷 @gonzalo_pirineus #andorra #pols #sablesaharien pic.twitter.com/JC3IvY9BV5
— Météo Pyrénées (@Meteo_Pyrenees) February 6, 2021
#Grenoble, #Chamonix, #Gruissan, #LePuyEnVelay…
Le flux de Sud provoque une remontée très importante de #sable en provenance du #Sahara, donnant une teinte très ocre au ciel de nos régions !N'hésitez pas à nous partager l'état de votre ciel ce matin.
📸Webcam @skaping pic.twitter.com/O4F2vAX7Au— Guillaume Séchet (@Meteovilles) February 6, 2021
Formidable remontée de #sable du sahara ce matin à #dijon. Selon @skironforecast avec 2800 mgr de poussières par m2, nous avions la même concentration de sable qu'au Chad auj à 10h UTC 🤗🏜 pic.twitter.com/Kz0ygjgiF2
— Marie et l'économie (@MorlotMarie) February 6, 2021
Sledding in blood snow. 🛷
I guess weird times also call for weird weather constellations like Sahara sand dust mixed with Siberian cold resulting in orange snow (spots). ❄️ 🏜 🌨
Anyway, still low friction and good fun with this phenomenon. 😁
Have a great Sunday! ♥️ pic.twitter.com/GuNxqAJRO8
— René Schulte (@rschu) February 7, 2021
A strong wind from the Sahara Desert covered most of Europe with sand, reaching as far as Switzerland.
Because of what in different countries the sky has acquired an orange or beige hue pic.twitter.com/KOCIAcZaF3— Sergio (@Sergiu28871107) February 7, 2021
The sky is orange/red where I live because of the sand from the desert of Sahara. That's very cool. pic.twitter.com/WojRpbSjw2
— Abaddon (@AbdFmL) February 6, 2021
Sirocco wind brings us pink Sahara dust over the lake of Geneva. Mountains look like sand dunes, with orange snow… pic.twitter.com/E0EYTA6gaB
— Roux Lab (@RouxLab) February 7, 2021
This is not #Mars.These are the Alps, in #Italy! The snow is orange. Because of the sand from the Sahara, in #Africa.
(Pic by @CroceRossaSusa) pic.twitter.com/x48qW19eUu— Fabrizio Anzolini (@Anzolini) February 6, 2021
Traçat ❄️🤎 pic.twitter.com/sTTPXFgY5G
— Isa Aguiar (@isaandorra) February 6, 2021
No it's not the end of the world 🤣
It was yesterday in France (Chamonix)
The sky was orange because the southerly wind blew away the sand from the sahara and spread across the sky. It's really rare and the last time when it's happened in France was 4 years ago, beautiful! pic.twitter.com/hOKVXZ0iz4— Birthday boy ❤ (@AlexBaguette74) February 7, 2021
Do you think these scenes look apocalyptic? Tell us.