An 'exceptionally intense' cloud of dust from the Sahara is making its way across Europe. The dust plume has been travelling across most of Spain to reach southeastern France, Germany and the southeastern corner of Britain. It brought hazy skies and colourful sunsets to many regions, leaving dusty deposits on cars and windows. But it also brought air pollution of tiny 'PM10' particles - which are small enough to be inhaled - breaching the EU's safe threshold in some regions.
The EU's Copernicus Atmosphere Monitoring Service called the current dust cloud 'exceptionally intense'. The two previous dust clouds stayed mostly further south, over the Mediterranean and southern Europe, although some residue was found on cars as far north as Scandinavia in March. Mark Parrington, senior scientist at CAMS, said the current dust cloud is a part of the same warm weather pattern that also brought warm weather to western Europe in recent days.