Athens turns orange under North Africa’s Sahara dust clouds

Clouds of dust blown in from the Sahara Desert covered Athens and other Greek cities on Tuesday. [Louisa Gouliamaki/Reuters]Dust covers the archaeological site of Acrocorinth, Corinth. According to the National Observatory of Athens, the atmospheric circulation over Greece favours the transfer of warm air masses from Africa to Greece, resulting in very high temperatures and the transfer of significant amounts of Saharan dust. [Vassilis Psomas/EPA]A man takes a photograph of the city of Athens from Tourkovounia hill. [Angelos Tzortzinis/AFP]It is one of the most serious episodes of dust and sand concentrations from the Sahara since March 2018, when dust clouds invaded the island of Crete, said Kostas Lagouvardos, weather research director at the Athens Observatory. [George Vitsaras/EPA]Greece was also struck in late March and early April by Saharan dust clouds, which also smothered parts of Switzerland and southern France. [George Vitsaras/EPA]Authorities warn that dust concentrations can reduce sunlight and visibility while increasing concentrations of fine pollution particles, posing risks for people with underlying health problems. [Petros Giannakouris/AP Photo]The Sahara Desert releases 60 to 200 million tonnes of mineral dust annually. While the largest particles come rapidly back down to earth, the smallest can travel thousands of kilometres, potentially reaching across Europe. [Petros Giannakouris/AP Photo]