Severe dust storm hits Crete, Greece

Severe dust storm hits Crete, Greece

A cutoff low in the central Mediterranean pushed huge amounts of Saharan dust from Libya toward the eastern Mediterranean on March 22, 2018, heavily impacting the region, especially the island of Crete. A thick layer of Saharan sand reached Crete around 16:00 local…

Thick cloud of Saharan dust moving over SE Europe

Thick cloud of Saharan dust moving over SE Europe

A large amount of Saharan dust was swept up into a low pressure system over north Africa on February 21, 2017. Thick dust cloud has already reached Spain and Portugal and is now moving east, toward Italy, Malta and the Balkans. The event is expected to last into…

Massive sand influx buries 16 villages, southeastern Iran

Massive sand influx buries 16 villages, southeastern Iran

According to Amin Baqeri, the governor of Rigan, Iran's southeastern province of Kerman, 16 villages in Rigan were buried in sand and became completely deserted amid consistent sandstorms. "Massive sand influx and consistent sandstorms have led to the…

Massive sandstorm hits northwest China

Massive sandstorm hits northwest China

Massive sandstorm in northwest China is transporting large sand deposits from Taklimakan Desert in western China and the Gobi desert in the east, through Gansu Province and the Xinjiang Uygur autonomous region. A very large front is moving eastward across Asia,…

Sandstorm moves across Arabian peninsula

Sandstorm moves across Arabian peninsula

A dense wall of dust barreled across the Arabian Peninsula on March 26 – 27, 2011. The massive storm stretches more than 500 kilometers (300 miles) across the peninsula, covering parts of Saudi Arabia, Yemen, Oman, and the United Arab Emirates. This pair of images…