‘Exceptionally intense’ Saharan dust cloud hits Europe, bringing hazy skies and blanketing cars

An “exceptionally intense” cloud of dust from the Sahara is making its way across Europe.

The dust plume has been travelling across most of Spain to reach southeastern France, Germany and the southeastern corner of Britain.

It brought hazy skies and colourful sunsets to many regions, leaving dusty deposits on cars and windows.

But it also brought air pollution of tiny “PM10” particles – which are small enough to be inhaled – breaching the EU’s safe threshold in some regions.

People in south and eastern Spain were left breathing particularly dirty air, with some stations recording PM10 concentrations four times above the healthy limit.

The latest episode, which has been under way since 6 April, is the third of its kind to reach Europe in recent weeks.

The EU’s Copernicus Atmosphere Monitoring Service (CAMS) called the current dust cloud “exceptionally intense”.

The two previous dust clouds stayed mostly further south, over the Mediterranean and southern Europe, although some residue was found on cars as far north as Scandinavia in March.

Mark Parrington, senior scientist at CAMS, said the current dust cloud is a part of the same warm weather pattern that also brought warm weather to western 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.”

The episode is expected to end progressively on Tuesday, reaching Sweden, Finland, the Baltic and northwest Russia, CAMS said.