'It is like it was raining mud': Eerie-looking sky raises concerns across Europe

Imagine stepping outside to a world where the sky was rusty orange and, although it was daytime, the sun could not be seen. For people across western Europe early this week, no such imagination was needed as the sky looked like an apocalyptic scene straight out of a science fiction film.

Visitors to ski resorts across Spain and France on Tuesday were greeted with a scene of sandy hills rather than a wintry wonderland.

In Madrid, Spain's capital city, video footage showed cars parked along the streets that had collected a thin film of dust on their exteriors Tuesday, and city workers could be seen hosing down the streets to wash the dust away.

Rain from Storm Celia collided with the dust storm over Málaga, Spain, on Tuesday, with fallout unlike any other storm currently on Earth. "It is like it was raining mud," said Álvaro López, according to a report from The Associated Press. "I was in the car this morning and mud was literally falling."

The cloud of dust was concentrated primarily over Spain on Monday, but it expanded to Portugal, France, Switzerland and northern Italy on Tuesday. By Wednesday, the dust could be seen on satellite as far away as Greece and southeastern England. With Storm Celia also bringing wet weather to this portion of the United Kingdom, the dust was displayed in the form of brown water drops, according to the UK Met Office.

The rusty orange color of the sky can be traced back to Africa where winds sweeping across the Sahara Desert picked up dust and sand and transported it hundreds of miles away.

"The reason the dust is being pulled that far northward is because of upper-level jet stream winds," AccuWeather Meteorologist Joe Curtis said. The jet stream had been set up in such a way that allowed the dust to be blown from Africa across the Mediterranean Sea and over western Europe.

This infusion of hot, dusty air from the Sahara Desert contributed to a rise in temperatures in some cities in Spain on Tuesday. The mercury shot up to 69 F (21 C) in Alicante and 74 F (23 C) in Almeria.

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Curtis said that the jet stream pattern that directed Saharan dust into Europe will persist through the middle of the week, however, dust issues are expected to be more isolated on Thursday.

NASA satellites show widespread dust across Spain and France on the morning of Mar. 15, 2022. (NASA Wordview)

In addition to creating an eerie appearance in the sky, the dust is also a natural air pollutant.

"In the case of a dust storm like the one moving into Western Europe from the Sahara Desert, the dominant pollutant is particulate matter (PM), also known as aerosols," said Tyler Knowlton, the director of communications, communities, and partnerships at Plume Labs, an environmental technology company which AccuWeather acquired earlier this year.

"PM can penetrate into our respiratory system, causing simple eye or throat irritation, or more serious issues in our lungs, hearts and brains," Knowlton added.

Tuesday featured the worst air quality across Spain and Portugal, reaching "dangerous" levels, which is depicted in purple on the map below, near the ground. Air quality was not as bad on Wednesday, but still at unhealthy levels.

The reason why the dangerous air quality was contained to the Iberian Peninsula is partly due to the region's geography.

While the dust has caused the sky to turn yellow over France, the Pyrénées Mountains along the border of Spain and France have prevented the low-level dust from settling across France, according to Knowlton. As a result, air pollution levels in France are not as extreme as they are in Spain.

AccuWeather air quality numbers had decreased from Tuesday noon local time to Wednesday noon, but much of Spain remained in the "Very Unhealthy" area under heavy dust.

Knowlton said that people across these dusty areas should minimize exposure by staying indoors.

A tight-fitting anti-pollution mask can also guard against air pollution for people that need to spend time outside before the dust pollution clears and air quality in the region improves later this week.

The plume of Saharan dust flowing northward over Europe is uncommon as the wind typically carries the massive cloud of dust westward over the Atlantic Ocean.

When these waves of dry, dusty air blow across the open ocean around the Atlantic hurricane season, it can hinder the development of tropical systems or contribute to the demise of weak systems churning over the Atlantic Ocean.

In extreme cases, the sand and dust can traverse the entire Atlantic Ocean and cloud the sky over the contiguous United States. One of the most recent examples occurred in June 2020, with Saharan dust spreading across the Gulf Coast states and into parts of the central Plains and lower Midwest.

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