The red storm that swept through several countries... what is it and what caused it?

Arab Weather - Several countries, including Egypt and Libya, and extending to southern Europe, especially Greece and the Greek island of Crete, were affected by a dense dust storm known as the "Red Storm," resulting from the rush of large quantities of desert dust coming from North Africa towards the eastern Mediterranean.

The storm caused a significant decrease in horizontal visibility, turning the sky and air a reddish-orange color, and increasing dust concentrations in the atmosphere, negatively impacting air quality. The storm was also accompanied by strong winds, which further increased the density and spread of the dust across large areas of the island.

The storm caused disruptions to daily life, with warnings issued to patients with respiratory problems to take necessary precautions, while the intensity of the dust is expected to gradually decrease as wind directions change in the coming hours.

A scientific explanation for the occurrence of sandstorms

Sandstorms typically occur when strong, gusty winds blow across dry desert regions, stirring up large quantities of sand and dust and lifting them into the lower atmosphere. In such cases, significant differences in atmospheric pressure accelerate the wind, carrying the sand particles over long distances, sometimes hundreds or even thousands of kilometers.

In the case of the eastern Mediterranean, these storms are often associated with the rush of cold air masses coming from the north, accompanied by active southerly or southwesterly winds, which transport sand and dust across the sea towards areas such as Crete and other parts of the eastern Mediterranean.

Sandstorms lead to a decrease in horizontal visibility, a decline in air quality, and may cause disruptions to transportation, in addition to their health effects, especially on respiratory patients, before their intensity usually decreases with a change in wind direction or rainfall that helps settle dust from the atmosphere.