DWD speaks of an "extraordinarily strong Sahara dust event" - concentration increased by a factor of 200
Created: 03/18/2022, 21:42
By: Thomas Eldersch
A cloud of Saharan dust settled over Bavaria in the past few days.
Now the DWD has investigated the unusual event and found something amazing.
Munich/Offenbach – The scenery looked spooky on Tuesday, March 15, in large parts of Bavaria.
When you look at the sky, you don't see the usual blue and white.
Everything around you seemed to be colored yellow, orange and brown.
A bell of dust lay over the state capital of Munich.
The reason for the unnatural-looking color change came from far away - more precisely from the Sahara.
Dust was blown across the Mediterranean to Bavaria.
The concentration of fine sand in the air even amazed the experts from the German Weather Service (DWD).
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Sahara dust over Bavaria: Values increased by a factor of 200
On Friday, March 18, the weather service announced the results of its investigation into the Sahara dust invasion in Bavaria.
According to measurements, the concentration of Saharan dust transported to Germany in the past few days was unusually high, according to the DWD.
This could have been seen very easily in the heavily colored sky.
But the experts from the weather service and the Düsseldorf University of Applied Sciences were not satisfied with just observing.
They also blew up.
For the investigation, a research aircraft flew from Essen/Mülheim Airport to the Zugspitze and back on Thursday.
According to the DWD, a dust concentration was measured at a height of two kilometers at a measuring point above the Meteorological Observatory Hohenpeissenberg (Bavaria), which was increased by a factor of 200 compared to the normal values.
According to the report, high values were also noted for a short time near the ground.
Sahara dust over Bavaria: Strongest event since 2008
Werner Thomas, an expert at the Meteorological Observatory, was also amazed by the high values.
"The Sahara dust in the last few days was an exceptionally strong Sahara dust event that occurs very rarely."
This time, however, 170 micrograms per cubic meter were briefly measured there, almost as much as in the previous strongest Sahara dust event in early summer 2008.
As of today, however, the dust from the desert is over.
As
weather.com
writes, the onset of winter in Eastern Europe is driving away the golden veil over Bavaria.
The weather portal says: “We only notice it marginally, but some of the cool air also reaches us.
And that's enough to drive away the Sahara dust.” Two things are expected to happen in Bavaria over the weekend.
Most of the sky will turn blue again.
And there will be long queues at the car washes.
(phone with dpa)