It looks nice, this meteorological event.
But various authorities are warning of the Sahara dust.
Allergy sufferers in particular should be careful.
At the beginning of the week, the wind brings a lot of dust to Germany - from North Africa.
The problem is not just a possibly restricted view of the streets and dirty windows.
As early as the beginning of February, such a cloud in parts of Western Europe caused the particle concentration to
rise “a hundred times” higher than usual in many places,
according to the
DWD
.
Offenbach - Meteorologist Jörg Kachelmann is also fascinated by this weather phenomenon.
On Monday he spoke about it on Twitter.
"If you look closely, you can now see the Sahara dust veil in the satellite image (away from the high clouds) of North Rhine-Westphalia and the Netherlands up to the North Sea," he wrote.
Saharan dust - in Germany?
Yes.
A cloud of sand from the African desert is sweeping across Europe.
Visually a spectacle, the sky was already colored orange in many places.
Photos from Switzerland (see above) and France (see below) from the beginning of the month were spectacular.
But for certain people this is a questionable health problem.
The
German Weather Service (DWD)
had warned of
a "deterioration in air quality"
.
And the experts at
weather.com
were also alarmed - especially with regard to allergy sufferers.
As the portal's meteorologists inform, it is not uncommon for storms in North Africa to throw up dust at high altitudes and thus to reach northern Europe.
+
The sky in Orschwihr in France is colored orange due to a wind current from the Sahara.
© Sebastien Bozon / dpa
Weather in Germany: A phenomenon from Africa can irritate mucous membranes
According to doctors, the Sahara dust is "not directly hazardous to health," they write.
The grains with a diameter of about 0.1 to ten nanometers are too small for this.
But: "From a concentration of more than 100 micrograms per cubic meter, the desert dust becomes an additional burden for pollen allergy sufferers or asthmatics because the respiratory tract can be irritated and allergy symptoms intensify."
Sneeze stimulus
Itching in the eyes
Irritated mucous membranes
Weather phenomenon Saharan dust plus pollen - a danger for allergy sufferers?
Could the dust that settles on plants possibly increase the effect of pollen?
Weather.com says no
.
According to the article, the Sahara sand is not chemically contaminated.
There remains the issue of air quality.
The European atmosphere monitoring service CAMS also warned of a deterioration.
It affects the east of Spain and France the most.
According to the forecast, the dust concentration in this country will increase this Monday and last until Wednesday.
List of rubric lists: © Olivier Maire / dpa