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WEATHER

IN PICTURES: ‘Exceptional’ Sahara dust cloud hits Europe

An "exceptional" dust cloud from the Sahara is choking parts of Europe, the continent's climate monitor said on Monday, causing poor air quality and coating windows and cars in grime.

Published: 8 April 2024 14:15 CEST
IN PICTURES: 'Exceptional' Sahara dust cloud hits Europe
This photograph taken on March 30, 2024, shows thick sand dust blown in from the Sahara giving the sky a yellowish appearance above the French riviera city of Nice, southern France. - This color is due to the sand blown from the Sahara desert and north Africa which has been coming up since March 27, 2024. (Photo by Valery HACHE / AFP)

Copernicus Atmosphere Monitoring Service said the latest plume, the third of its kind in recent weeks, was bringing hazy conditions to southern Europe and would sweep northward as far as Scandinavia.

Mark Parrington, senior scientist at Copernicus, said the latest event was related to a weather pattern that has brought warmer weather to parts of Europe in recent days.

“While it is not unusual for Saharan dust plumes to reach Europe, there has been an increase in the intensity and frequency of such episodes in recent years, which could be potentially attributed to changes in atmospheric circulation patterns,” he said.

This latest episode has caused air quality to deteriorate in several countries, Copernicus said.

The European Union’s safe threshold for concentrations of PM10 — coarser particles like sand and dust that that can irritate the nose and throat — has already been exceeded in some locations.

A picture taken on April 8, 2024 shows a rapeseed field under thick sand dust blown in from the Sahara, giving the sky a yellowish appearance near Daillens, western Switzerland. – An “exceptional” dust cloud from the Sahara is choking parts of Europe, the continent’s climate monitor said, causing poor air quality and coating windows and cars in grime. (Photo by Fabrice COFFRINI / AFP)

The worst affected was the Iberian Peninsula in Spain but lesser air pollution spikes were also recorded in parts of Switzerland, France and Germany.

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Local authorities in southeastern and southern France announced that the air pollution threshold was breached on Saturday.

They advised residents to avoid intense physical activity, particularly those with heart or respiratory problems.

The dust outbreak was expected to reach Sweden, Finland and northwest Russia before ending on Tuesday with a shift in weather patterns, Copernicus said.

The Sahara emits between 60 and 200 million tonnes of fine dust every year, which can travel thousands of kilometres (miles), carried by winds and certain meteorological conditions.

The Spanish Canary Islands off the coast of northwest Africa saw just 12 days within a 90-day period from December to February where skies were free of Saharan dust, the local weather agency Aemet had reported.

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FLOODS

Floodwaters recede in eastern France

The municipalities affected by floods in eastern France on Saturday are seeing a gradual return to normality on Sunday, although forecaster Météo-France has kept an orange alert in place for Moselle and Bas-Rhin.

Published: 19 May 2024 16:44 CEST
Floodwaters recede in eastern France

“The floodwaters are receding well, we are in the process of removing all protective equipment,” said Bruno Minutiello, president of the municipalities community covering Lunéville to Baccarat (Meurthe-et-Moselle), without mentioning any significant incident.

On Saturday, this area was placed on red alert, France’s highest weather warning level, because of flooding on the Vezouze river, which burst its banks. It rose to 2.90 metres from 0.60 metres on Thursday. 

However, it fell short of reaching the level recorded during the 2006 floods, as had been feared. The river is now back on yellow alert.

“The night was quiet, no homes were flooded,” said the mayor of Lunéville, Catherine Paillard.

READ ALSO: What do France’s weather warnings actually mean?

In Moselle, the Nied river is also receding and has been downgraded to an orange alert on Sunday, from red on Saturday.

“The main street is clear, the waters have receded, all homes are accessible, whereas yesterday people had 1.50 metres of water in their houses,” said René Kupperschmit, mayor of Filstroff (Moselle), adding that the local kayak club had delivered food to some families.  

“The waters dropped back with incredible speed. Today people are cleaning up, I think that the prefect will issue a natural disaster order for the entire sector,” he added.

But further upstream, in Ancerville (Moselle), water levels were still high with the Nied reaching 2.64 metres on Sunday morning, compared to 0.65 metres on Thursday.

“There are still about 30 centimetres of water covering the two main roads making travel very difficult. But houses are not flooded, it’s mainly affecting travel,” said mayor Patrick Angelaud.

In the areas of Sarreguemines and Bouzonville (Moselle), there were still some difficulties on Sunday, after the Saar river flooded. It reached its peak of 6.40 metres in the morning, up from 2.60 metres on Thursday.

“Around 180 homes remain without electricity,” the prefecture said in a press release, noting that agents for power grid operator Enedis had been deployed to remedy the situation.

Firefighters carried out “84 interventions” in the morning, “mainly for pumping and reconnaissance”.

In the Lower Rhine area, “generally speaking, waters are starting to recede on the majority of waterways, even if some areas are still under surveillance”, the press release continued.

Around 20 roads in the department remain inaccessible, but “the situation is gradually returning to normal”.

A yellow alert for thunderstorms has been issued for 76 departments on Sunday, including those in the Grand Est region of northeastern France, amid fears of further rain.

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