African dust-Kolydas: “The most intense event recorded in Athens”-How to explain the eerie color

Last Tuesday (23/4) everyone on social media, and not only, commented extensively on the orange color that the sky of Athens got due to the intense episode of African dust that passed over Greece.

The eerie and unprecedented images were also commented on by a post on his personal website by the well-known meteorologist, director of the National Meteorological Service, Thodoris Kolydaswho, among other things, stated that in his personal opinion the specific episode of dust transport from Africa is “the most intense” that has been observed in Athens to date.

“I have researched historical evidence of cases involving large dust transports, which I am passing on to you. Most are recorded in my personal diary as I experienced them on the EMY shift since 1986,” he writes in his post, urging any fellow meteorologist who has recorded another case to share it with him.

The post of Thodoris Kolidas:

According to him, similar incidents have been recorded:

• March 7, 1902
• March 28, 1931
• April 23, 1965
• April 14, 2008
• May 21, 2008
• April 17, 2005

Also, as Mr. Kolidas mentions, there are data for 2/25/2001, 2/24/2006, 3/6/2009, 5/21/2008 and 11/10/2010.

Why was the eerie orange landscape created?

Trying to explain the bright orange color of the sky, he said, among other things: “A big role was played by the fact that there was no rain, as it usually happens, so the dust was not “washed out” and remained suspended in the atmosphere for a long time. The “eerie” color was created due to the scattering of light, where an important role was played by the time when the maximum transport occurred, which coincided with the sunset.”

According to the National Meteorological Service, however, the African dust will be limited today, Thursday (25/4) only to the Dodecanese, with the rest of the regions gradually catching… a breather.

Images of the African dust that “swallowed” Athens: