"Dust plumes, whipped up by winds over the Sahara Desert, are moving over western Europe. This annual phenomenon—known in Spanish as La Calima, which literally translates to the haze—means a plume of dust and sand is threatening an area covering Spain, Portugal and France. Blood rain—essentially falling red mud created by the sand and precipitation mixing together—is expected, as are hazardous air conditions and, of course, a red haze."
"Every year tens of millions of tons of particulate matter from the Sahara is swept up into the air and dispersed across the globe, with some dust even reaching the Americas. This plume appears to be driven by a local weather phenomenon known as DANA (an acronym for isolated depression at high levels in Spanish), which is an isolated high-altitude depression that forms when cold air meets warm air above the Mediterranean Sea."
"The rain, despite its name, is not harmful in itself. But public health authorities are urging older people, children and people with respiratory issues to limit their time outdoors so as not to inhale the dust."
La Calima, an annual phenomenon originating from the Sahara Desert, involves dust and sand plumes swept up by winds and transported across western Europe. The event threatens Spain, Portugal, and France with blood rain—a rust-colored precipitation formed when sand mixes with rainfall. While the rain itself is not inherently harmful, public health authorities recommend that older people, children, and those with respiratory conditions limit outdoor exposure to avoid inhaling dust particles. Tens of millions of tons of Saharan particulate matter disperse globally each year, sometimes reaching the Americas. The current plume is driven by DANA, an isolated high-altitude depression forming when cold and warm air masses interact above the Mediterranean Sea, potentially creating severe weather conditions when combined with La Calima.
Read at www.scientificamerican.com
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