Skiers in Russia posted some bizarre photos on social media over the weekend: slopes covered in snow with an unmistakably orange tinge.
Meanwhile in Crete, the sky had a similar mandarin glow, as if scooped from the same pint of sherbet.
Amazing views in Palaiokastro, Crete today in thick Saharan dust! WOW! Report: Stavros Christopoulous pic.twitter.com/pcHyJn1a8v
— severe-weather.EU (@severeweatherEU) March 22, 2018
It turns out these two phenomena have the same cause: strong winds in North Africa that are stirring sand from the Sahara and blowing it northeast across the Mediterranean.
In Sochi, the site of the 2014 Winter Olympics, the sand is mixing right into the snow or landing on top of it. The BBC reportspeople complaining of sand in their mouth.
Sahara or Siberia? Orange snow has been reported in eastern Europe and Russia. Saharan storms brought sand and dust across the Mediterranean, which mixed with the snow. This also turned skies an eerie shade of red across Cyprus pic.twitter.com/9LRrQCyC4S
— Met Office (@metoffice) March 26, 2018
Becky Mitchell, a meteorologist at the U.K.'s Met Office, tells NPR that the Saharan sand is so far afield, in part, because the jet stream has shifted farther south than it often is and because northern Africa is seeing a lot of thunderstorms at the moment.
While such happenings aren't common, Mitchell said they're also not especially rare. Indeed, the powerful storm Ophelia turned the skies over London a similar eerie shade of orange last year.
But ... orange snow?
"I've never seen any reports of orange snow here," Mitchell said.
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