Saharan Dust Cloud to Impact Air Quality Across Europe, France by Monday

The air quality forecasts "show a large plume of Saharan dust moving towards southern and central Europe that should arrive this weekend. Although the degree of visibility of the dust is uncertain, the event will have impacts on local air quality," Copernicus said in a statement. This phenomenon should concern France as early as Monday, the same source specifies, warning that it is still unknown whether this phenomenon will color the sky as at the beginning of February.

"It remains to be seen if the episode will be as important as the last time, because there had been a violent storm in the Moroccan desert, with a very fast [high-altitude wind, Ed.] flow that brought the sand as far as Denmark. This type of event occurs on average five times a year in France," says Frédéric Decker, a meteorologist at MétéoNews.

On February 6, the sky had turned ochre yellow, particularly in the south and east of France, during the passage of a cloud of dust from Moroccan Saharan sand storms, which had caused a peak in air pollution.

"According to the models, there should be, this Monday, between 2,500 and 3,000 micrograms of sand per cubic meter. To be confirmed in the coming days, of course. It could concern the west of France on Sunday, but especially the east on Monday," says Aurélien Miguet, a weather enthusiast, to the newspaper Le Dauphiné.