Saharan dust plume with high values moving over Europe

A large Saharan dust plume is moving NE over parts of Europe -- from Spain and France today, February 6, 2021, into Italy, Germany, and the rest of northern and eastern Europe and the Balkans in the coming days.

Sand-laden rains, a fairly rare phenomenon in winter, are expected over much of the region.

Dust Optical Depth, February 5 - 8, 2021. Data source: AEMET. Credit: AEMET, Google, TW

C’est toujours impressionnant les vents de sables en Algérie. Oran la deuxième ville du pays vient d’être frappée par un particulièrement fort aujourd’hui pic.twitter.com/zRvKlEr16m
— sakamachèlikoum (@yassalaDZ) February 5, 2021

#Grenoble, #Chamonix, #Gruissan, #LePuyEnVelay...
Le flux de Sud provoque une remontée très importante de #sable en provenance du #Sahara, donnant une teinte très ocre au ciel de nos régions !

N'hésitez pas à nous partager l'état de votre ciel ce matin.
Webcam @skaping pic.twitter.com/O4F2vAX7Au
— Guillaume Séchet (@Meteovilles) February 6, 2021

Dust emissions in Northeast Algeria (Sidi Bel Abbès and Temble provinces) is impacting in Oran, Algeria, right now !!!!!

Dust emissions is occurring in a 200 km width area aside of the Mekmen Ben Amer dry lake

travelling toward the Mediterranean!!! pic.twitter.com/QLTQMrGwQ0
— sergio rodríguez (@aire_sergio_rod) February 5, 2021

#SaharanDust plume with high values of dust aerosol optical depth & surface PM10 across SW Europe in #CopernicusAtmosphere Monitoring Service global forecast for 6 Feb, 12 UTC (init. 5 Feb, 00 UTC) https://t.co/zHFTQgvpLz #AirQuality #AirPollution https://t.co/XxaV5Ggirk pic.twitter.com/fdbEnMEp5z
— Mark Parrington (@m_parrington) February 5, 2021

Image credit: NASA Terra/MODIS, TW. Acquired February 5, 2021

A Grandvalira #sablesaharien #pols #andorra @montpackers pic.twitter.com/cqa763zlWk
— Météo Pyrénées (@Meteo_Pyrenees) February 6, 2021

D’autres images hallucinantes de @grandvalira par @unaportepuymorens un épisode exceptionnel de #sablesaharien #andorra pic.twitter.com/DcMYlzqj4V
— Météo Pyrénées (@Meteo_Pyrenees) February 6, 2021

Et La Mongie #sablesaharien @grandtourmalet un grand classique de nos hivers toujours impressionnant #tourmalet pic.twitter.com/ntYrI1q5z4
— Météo Pyrénées (@Meteo_Pyrenees) February 6, 2021

Events such as this can significantly lower air quality and be dangerous for sensitive groups -- be sure to track your local air quality index.