Photos: Hellish Dust Storm in Greece Leaves Athens Dark Orange

Residents in Greece were witnesses to a hellish-looking dust storm this week. The dust originated from the Sahara desert in North Africa and was blown across the Mediterranean Sea by strong winds. By Tuesday, Athens and other Greek cities were blanketed in an orange-red and potentially dangerous haze.

Though the dust storm had begun to vacate the region by Wednesday morning, its short presence made for some eerily beautiful imagery. Here are some of the best photos we’ve seen of the storm and some related trivia.

The strange “dust transfer event” was codenamed Minerva Red by scientists from the National Observatory of Athens.

The strange phenomenon undoubtedly attracted many viewers. In the photo above, you can see tourists playing with a cat at Lycabettus Hill, as the city of Athens with the ancient Acropolis hill seen in the background.

A couple viewing Minerva Red from atop Tourkovounia hill in Central Athens.

As beautiful as the sky looked in Greece Tuesday, Minerva Red wasn’t necessarily harmless to watch. The storm covered the city with a substantial amount of fine dust particles, which led local officials to issue an air quality warning. People, especially if they had pre-existing respiratory conditions, were asked to stay indoors, wear protective masks, and avoid outdoor exercise if possible until the dust cleared.

Sahara-related dust storms in Greece aren’t too unusual. But this does appear to be one of the largest seen in recent history.

“It’s one of the most serious episodes of dust and sand concentrations from the Sahara since March 21-22, 2018, when the clouds invaded the island of Crete in particular,” Kostas Lagouvardos, weather research director at the Athens Observatory, told the AP/AFP Tuesday.

Here’s Minerva Red as seen from the premises of the Olympic Stadium in Athens.

Like so many bad things, dust storms like this one have and are expected to become more common thanks to climate change. A warming climate means that arid regions will experience even more droughts and a greater accumulation of dust. According to the United Nations, about 25% of global dust emissions are caused by human activity, while some areas have seen a doubling of desert dust in the 20th century.

In a Facebook post on Tuesday, Kostas Lagouvardos, metrologist and weather research director at the Athens Observatory, dubbed Athens a colony of Mars. Above, you can see why.

By Wednesday, winds from the west started to chase the dust storm away from Athens. And as of Thursday, it’s now expected to have reached the Dodecanese Islands in the southeastern Aegean Sea.