An orange-yellow haze of dust from the Sahara desert covered parts of Greece, prompting authorities to issue health warnings and creating spectacular scenes.
The Greek meteorological service said that weather conditions on Tuesday (23) favored the movement of dust from Africa and this was manifesting itself in “increased concentrations in the atmosphere”, especially in the south of the country.
See the dust cloud that covered Athens
However, the dust would gradually begin to clear on Wednesday morning, according to weather forecasters, and from noon onward would be “limited to the east.”
Videos and images shared online showed people in Athens watching the yellow-orange haze from the hills near the Greek capital.
Others took evening walks in the city and shared the orange scenes on social media. One user posted that meteorologists said the orange dust made Athens look like “a Mars colony.”
The eastern Mediterranean country of Cyprus was also affected by the dust.
A low pressure system over North Africa swept dust over Cyprus several times in mid-April, “darkening skies and reducing air quality,” NASA said Tuesday.
An image from NASA's Terra satellite showed “a blanket of tan” over Cyprus on April 22. The dust is expected to continue to cross the Mediterranean, impacting Cyprus and Greece in the coming days, NASA said.
Dust clouds moving from North Africa to Greece and other regions are an occasional phenomenon, bringing limited visibility and prompting warnings of respiratory risks.
“Crazy” weather hits Finland
The strange phenomena in southern Europe occurred as an unusually large snowfall in the north of the continent for this time of year paralyzed public transport across southern Finland, public broadcaster YLE reported.
“Abnormal April weather” brought more than 20 centimeters of snow to some areas, stranding trams and delaying bus and metro services in the Finnish capital and causing flight cancellations and delays at Helsinki Airport, YLE reported on Tuesday. .
Meanwhile, police in the country's southwest reported about a dozen traffic accidents — albeit without serious injuries — and maintenance workers worked to clear snow from power lines.
While snowfall is not unusual in Finland's winter months, a press officer for Helsinki's public transport operator, Johannes Laitila, told YLE that such weather was “unusual” for late April and urged travelers to reserve more time for travel.
Photos showed Helsinki residents walking through thick snow and ice, carrying umbrellas under heavy snowfall, and large piles of snow piled up on sidewalks, cars and scooters.
Finland's airport operator Finavia said freezing rain “which turns to ice almost immediately when it hits the ground” fell at Helsinki airport.
“As a result, runway deicing and aircraft wing deicing must be done much more frequently than is usual for the time of year,” Finavia added.
HSL said on its website that all tram services in the city were canceled on Tuesday but were gradually resuming from the afternoon.
Maintenance workers cleared snow from tram tracks, and struggled to remove ice from some overhead electrical power lines because equipment used to apply glycol – an anti-icing chemical that is typically used for this purpose during the winter – was taken to storage in the summer.
“Unfortunately, the severity of the weather surprised us,” said the head of the city's transportation organization's maintenance unit, Antti Vigelius, in a press release, according to YLE.
Source: CNN Brasil
Bruce Belcher is a seasoned author with over 5 years of experience in world news. He writes for online news websites and provides in-depth analysis on the world stock market. Bruce is known for his insightful perspectives and commitment to keeping the public informed.
