Dust from a sandstorm in the Sahara desert is causing snow in eastern Europe to turn orange, transforming mountainous regions of Ukraine, Russia, Bulgaria and Romania into Mars-like landscapes.
The unusual scenes are believed to be created by a mix of sand, dust and pollen particles stirred up and swept across from storms in northern Africa. According the meteorologists, the phenomenon occurs roughly every five years.
A post shared by Маргарита Альшина (@margarita_alshina) on Mar 23, 2018 at 4:49am PDT
Steven Keates, a weather forecaster at the UK’s Met Office, told The Independent:
“As the sand gets lifted to the upper levels of the atmosphere, it gets distributed elsewhere.
“Looking at satellite imagery from Nasa, it shows a lot of sand and dust in the atmosphere drifting across the Mediterranean.”
Skiiers and snowboarders posted photographs on Instagram and Twitter that showed eerie orange scenes.
A post shared by Ekaterina (@katrin.jd) on Mar 23, 2018 at 7:33am PDT
An image captured at Russia’s Sochi ski resort, depicts unfazed skiers gliding down tangerine
One person wrote “Martian landscape, Apocalypse Now.”
Another added: “Snowy slopes were transformed into barkhan dunes.”
It is not the first time eastern Europeans have experienced an eerie snow-tint.
A similar phenomenon happened in 2007 when mysterious “oily” orange snow fell across three regions of south Siberia.