Greece: In Athens and other Greek cities, the sky turned apocalyptical ‘orange’ due to strong winds that brought dust from the Sahara Desert. Both residents and visitors were shocked with the event as social media platforms were overflowing with pictures of the bizarre orange hue. Videos of sand-covered windshields went viral, posted on X (previously Twitter) among other sites.
According to reports from SkyNews, this was one of the worst episodes of its sort since 2018, as the orange sky caused temperatures to rise and the quality of the air to drastically decline. In stark contrast to the significantly colder temperatures in northern Greece, temperatures in certain areas of the southern island of Crete reached over 30 degrees Celsius.
___ April 23, 2024: Orange Skies* – African dust blanketing Greece has created an eerie image, making Athens look like a colony on Mars, reports a Greek meteorologist. __ pic.twitter.com/KtKE6lmbdB
— vegastar (@vegastarr) April 23, 2024
As a result of the strong southerly winds, early wildfires got worsened in the country’s southern areas. The fire department responded to a total of 25 wildfires in a 24-hour period. In addition, authorities on the island of Paros in the Aegean Sea reportedly detained three people on suspicion of unintentionally igniting a brush fire.
According to The Guardian, the yellow-orange haze made visibility difficult and caused officials to warn of respiratory hazards. The Athens Observatory’s director of meteorological research, Kostas Lagouvardos, called the event one of the biggest dust and sand concentration episodes since March 21-22, 2018, with a special impact on Crete.
According to weather forecasts, Wednesday’s skies should progressively clear, providing relief to the impacted areas. People on social media expressed surprise at the rare occurrence. One user from X captured this emotion in a video, commenting on the bizarre orange sky.
As the week goes on, authorities predict that the Eastern Mediterranean will see temperatures that are more in line with normal and a return to cleaner, fresher air.