„The future development is very uncertain, this is a rather non-standard situation. Concentrations may decrease in the following hours, but also increase significantly,” meteorologists said.
“This is an exceptional phenomenon for the South Bohemian Region, because we rarely have smog situations here,” Renata Uhlíková from the České Budějovice branch of the ČHMÚ told ČTK.
She added that people may experience certain complications when moving outside. For example, it can make it harder for them to breathe, scratch their throat or burn their eyes. Visually, the Saharan dust is not very distinct, only when looking into the distance, a yellow tint can appear in the sky. It resembles, for example, the raising of dust over a field during agricultural work.
The smog situation was also valid in Ostrava and Karvina. Frýdecko-Místek and also in Třinec. And from the evening hours also in Brno. “At least at half of the stations representative of this area, the twelve-hour moving average of the concentration of suspended particles PM10 exceeded the informative threshold value of 100 micrograms per cubic meter, and it is not expected to fall below this value in the 24-hour period,” the meteorologists said.
In the rest of today and the following days, according to meteorologists, the concentration of dust in the air may increase significantly in other places as well. Therefore, people should monitor the current level of pollution on the CHMÚ website, and children, pregnant women, the sick and the elderly and people with chronic respiratory or circulatory diseases should avoid significant physical activity outdoors. The progression of dust pollution across the Czech Republic was published in an animation on the X network by Jáchym Brzezin from the Brno branch of the Czech Chamber of Commerce.
👀Sahara dust is here.
Already during the night, a large amount of Saharan dust began to reach us from the southwest and, for example, on the webcam from Vsetín ⬇️ the sky is already significantly “foggy”.
👉Dust also probably caused (larger) formation of high clouds (especially in the lee of the Alps), with… pic.twitter.com/o9O5zOHwy4
— Czech Hydrometeorological Institute (ČHMÚ) (@CHMUCHMI) March 30, 2024
Ceilometers, which use a laser beam to measure the height and amount of cloud cover, show, according to meteorologists, an increased layer of beam reflectivity at a height of around two kilometers. However, the dust apparently does not only move this high. “In the south-west of Bohemia, the dust occurred even lower, and it even affected ground-level dust concentrations,” added by the ČHMÚ.
Follow the current development of the weather on Radar Blesku
Because Saharan dust is not accounted for in forecast models, today the temperatures did not rise to the expected 19 to 23 degrees Celsius. The first day of summer this year no longer occurred at the end of March, last year meteorologists recorded it for the first time on May 5, and only at a single station in Pilsen.
A certain amount of Saharan dust could reach the Czech Republic until Monday evening. On social network X this was reported by Jáchym Brzezina from the Brno branch of the Czech Hydrometeorological Institute (ČHMÚ). A large amount of dust began to reach the Czech Republic at night from the southwest. It worsens the atmosphere, fogs the sky and will significantly affect today’s maximum temperatures.
Brzezina said that such transport of particles through the atmosphere over long distances is technically called long-range transport. Oin general, according to him, it can be said that pollutants can spread through the atmosphere over very long distances, up to thousands of kilometers. An example is the transfer of dust from the Sahara, but at the end of June last year, meteorologists also recorded the passage of particles from Canadian forest fires across Czech territory.
„From an air quality point of view, this often does not bother us as much, because the particles often pass high in the atmosphere and will not affect the air quality near the ground, and it is not frequent. Of course, this is not the rule, and if the particles reach the ground layer of the atmosphere, the concentrations of especially the larger particles – PM10 particles – can rise very significantly.” pointed out Brzezin.
1/7 A significant amount of particles from the Sahara desert pass through our territory today. What is the forecast? What will that mean? How far can particles travel in the air? What other distant sources of particles can occur in our territory? What is long distance transport? Where in Europe is it… pic.twitter.com/aXAkglBx2F
— Jachym Brzezina (@Jachym) March 30, 2024
Fine dust particles PM10, for which the daily limit is 50 micrograms per cubic meter, according to meteorological maps this morning, for example in the South Bohemian Region, reached several times higher values. According to meteorologists, the amount of flying particles has worsened the air quality. Saharan dust has also caused a change in the weather. “We were expecting a possible record breaking temperature today with sunny skies and over 20 degrees Celsius, but it’s been cloudy since the morning, which was also affected by the Saharan dust“, Renata Uhlíková from the České Budějovice branch of the ČHMÚ told ČTK.
Despite the cloudy sky, it was around 18 degrees Celsius in the south of Bohemia, which is not common in such a type of weather. That’s why some people walk outside in shorts or short-sleeved shirts. “Saharan dust warms the air,” said Uhlíková. She added that these are small particles that cannot be seen with the human eye. Just by looking into the distance, one can see a hint of yellow color, which is caused by the Saharan dust. According to Brzezina, at higher concentrations the sky has an orange tinge.
Due to the fact that the forecast models do not take into account the Saharan dust, today, according to meteorologists, temperatures may not rise to the expected 19 to 23 degrees Celsius. It is thus less likely that temperatures will reach 25 degrees, which would mean the first summer day of the year already at the end of March. Last year, meteorologists recorded it for the first time on May 5, and only at a single station in Pilsen.
Dust from the Sahara is also reported abroad
An increased concentration of Saharan dust in the air was also reported today by NGermany or Slovakia. It was written by foreign media and agencies. A large amount of Saharan dust began to reach the Czech Republic during the night from the southwest. In Switzerland, authorities dismissed concerns that large amounts of dust falling on the mountains there could scratch skis during winter sports.
Local meteorologists wrote about a large amount of Saharan dust over Slovakia. According to them, the concentration of dust will increase during the day. “In many places, we observed significant turbidity, i.e. reduced visibility due to a high concentration of solid particles,” said the Slovak Hydrometeorological Institute this morning.
The German meteorological service DWD also informed about the typical turbidity caused by Saharan dust, writes the DPA agency. The phenomenon was observed today in many places in the country, mainly in its western part. According to meteorologists, it could continue during Sunday.
Switzerland has been experiencing large amounts of Saharan dust since Friday. “The influx of Saharan dust brings a very significant reduction in sunshine and visibility,” Swiss meteorologists said. When the dust hits the snow, it turns orange to red. Swiss meteorologists also denied rumors that perhaps dust on the snow could scratch the skis during sporting pleasures in the mountains. However, it can have an adverse effect on glaciers. The dust cover reduces the ability of the glaciers to reflect the sun’s rays and leads to the retention of more energy, which leads to the acceleration of the melting of the glaciers, writes the AFP agency.
Saharan sand accompanies the flow of warm air from Africa. Its high concentration and the sky in ocher color was also reported today by cities in the east of France and in Italy.
Clouds with dust from the African Sahara were colored ocher by the sunset, March 30, 2024, Třešť, Jihlavsko.
Author: ČTK / Pavlíček Luboš
