A dust cloud from the Sahara covers Switzerland and part of southern France

A Sand cloud of the Sahara desert Cover from Friday the skies of Switzerland and arrived in the south of France this SaturdayA unusual phenomenon that colored it Landscape with a yellowish hue and triggered alarms due to the concentration of fine particles.

The phenomenon has led to a “deterioration” in visibility and an increase in fine dust concentrations, the weather service MeteoSuisse warned on the X network.

The southeast of France was also affected by fine dust pollution on Saturday, the prefectures of the Provence Alpes Côte d’Azur and Hérault regions said. The southeast of France was also affected by fine dust pollution on Saturday, the prefectures of the Provence Alpes Côte d’Azur and Hérault regions said.

In Switzerland due to the Due to dust concentration at less than 3,000 meters, air quality deteriorated from the shores of Lake Geneva to the rest of the country.

According to estimates, the dust cloud reached around 180,000 tons, said meteorologist Roman Brogli on public radio. This is an exceptionally high amount, which, according to Brogli, is twice as high as similar phenomena in Switzerland.

In the southeast of France, the “alert threshold” was exceeded on Saturday in the entire Provence Alpes Côte d’Azur region, but also in the Hérault and the Gard department.

The Sahara is the largest source of mineral dust, producing between 60 and 200 million tons annually.either. The largest particles fall to the ground quickly, but the smallest ones can be transported thousands of kilometers, reaching Europe and even other continents.

AFP