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Exceptionally large dust event for western Europe and Mediterranean

exceptionally-large-dust-event-for-western-europe-and-mediterranean

Image credit: AEMET

Huge amounts of dust are advecting toward western Europe and the western Mediterranean this weekend, with parts of France, Spain and Italy expected to be the most impacted.

The event is caused by a broad cold core upper low pushing from Morocco into the Iberian peninsula and the western Mediterranean, Severe Weather Europe meteorologists said. 

"It will persist there until Tuesday when a deep long wave trough coming in from the Atlantic pushes it further east into the northern Mediterranean. Persistent southerlies will advect exceptionally large amounts of Saharan dust from Algeria into western and central Mediterranean, pushing into Spain France, Italy, Spain, Malta, Switzerland and to a lesser extent BeNeLux and Germany by late on Sunday and as far as the UK by Tuesday."

The highest dust loads are expected over the western Mediterranean.

"This is a truly rare event," SWE meteorologists said.

The event will bring quite a bit of sand-rich rain to the region.

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