Sahara Dust Cloud: A sandstorm covering part of Spain in orange

Madrid (AFP) .- Vehicles covered in a layer of orange dust, sandy tunnel corridors and a sky painted red: A large cloud of dust from the Sahara last night over much of Madrid and Spain.

In the center of the Spanish capital you can find people creating portals with their cars, terraces or pipes. This thin saffron dust transformed the landscape.

The floors in the subway and parking lot were dusty and the windows on the upper floors of the buildings showed brown stains.

This meteorological phenomenon is known in Spain as strong warm winds, loaded with sand dust from the Sahara Desert. Fog. It is most common, especially in the Atlantic archipelago of the Canary Islands, located in northwest Africa.

State Meteorological Agency (AMD) spokesman Ruben del Combo described the current event as “an extraordinary episode of fog with significant reductions in visibility over large parts of the peninsula”, affecting cities “Granada (south), Madrid (center) and north (Lyon). ) Is as far away as ”.

This will continue because “the dust is expected to continue to be large during the 15th and 16th Wednesdays of Tuesday” and detailed: “In the next few hours it will reach areas far from the Sahara.” As for the Netherlands and Germany, del Combo said.

Storms in the Sahara Desert create wind speeds on the land surface that raise particles of sand and dust, Aemet explained in a video on Twitter.

The company said that the smallest particles are suspended in the air and fall in large quantities due to the temperature difference between the hot air at altitude and the cooling floor.

The wind then carries the particles to the Iberian Peninsula, where it has not been ruled out that there will be a “mud shower” in Spain, and if the fog combines with the snow, Amet warned.

According to officials, air quality was “very unfavorable” Tuesday morning in Madrid, Sequoia or Avila in the center of the country.

AP Photos, AFP and Getty Images

Photo Editing: Fernanda Corbani