CARS and buildings across the Island were left coated in a thin layer of orange dust this morning after particles from a Saharan sandstorm reached the Island.
The phenomenon is being experienced across a large swathe of Europe and especially in Spain, where residents of some cities have been told to use facemasks if venturing outside after air quality was downgraded to ‘extremely unfavourable’. In Madrid, visibility has been reduced to 2½ miles and the sky has turned orange.
We can see the #SaharanDust that has pushed across Spain and France, into southeast England
Whilst this #dust is mostly about 2km above ground level, some deposits may fall to the ground, especially during today’s rain in southern parts of the UK pic.twitter.com/9mxfcnk8cv
— Met Office (@metoffice) March 16, 2022
But further north, despite a layer of dust appearing on buildings and cars, forecasters say the impact is unlikely to be significant.
Richard Miles, of the UK Met Office, said: ‘Storm Celia over Spain is indeed pulling a dust cloud up from the Sahara, which could potentially reach as far as the south of the UK.
‘However, we don’t expect significant impacts – the most likely would be on the cloudscapes at sunset, but as conditions are likely to be generally overcast and wet for much of the day this is unlikely to amount to much. There are no air quality warnings.
‘People in the south might find a bit of dust left on their cars as the rain washes it out of the skies today.’
