‘Orange snow’ coats mountains across Europe

Ski fields in Romania and Russia transform into a Martian landscape.

Sahara Sand
Dust and sand from the Sahara add a light brownish tone to the clouds over the northern mountain chain and the Inn Valley, near Innsbruck, Austria, Saturday 21 February 2004 [EPA/ROBERT PARIGGER]

Dust from the Sahara has transformed the ski fields of southeast Europe

The snow has taken on an orange hue in Bulgaria, Romania, Ukraine and Russia.

The dust has been kicked into the atmosphere by recent storms that have been raging across the Mediterranean and northern Africa, and transported across Europe on strong winds.

On Thursday, much of the Greek Island of Crete was shrouded in an orange glow, as the winds pushed the hot air northwards.

The air continued across southeast Europe and hit the cold air which is currently in place over the region.

This triggered rain, and snow over the mountains, both of which were mixed with plenty of orange dust.

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Марсианские пейзажи, апокалипсис на горе сегодня! Я думала, что такое бывает только вблизи Африки, на Лансароте-Тенерифе или ещё где-то там, этот ветер горячий, который несёт песок из пустыни. Но в Поляне тоже произошло что-то невероятное, хотя пустыни довольно далеко. Если честно, жёлтый песок сверху мокрого снега, – зрелище необычное, но очень грустное. Сезон, и без того короткий, с каждым днём оставляет все меньше надежд на продолжение. #розахутор #песчанаябуря #желтыйснег #бурявкраснойполяне #rosakhutor #yellowsnow #sandstorm

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This isn’t the first time that Europe has seen orange dust from the Sahara. In October 2016, it was the northwest of the continent which was cowering under an orange sky.

The dust, which was made worse by the wildfires in Spain and Portugal, left Londoners staring at the sky in amazement.

Source: Al Jazeera, News Agencies