Saharan dust blurs the views in the province of Alicante

Visibility was greatly reduced due to the red dust in the air on Sunday

For the second time this month dust from the Sahara Desert reached the province of Alicante this weekend, just over two weeks after “blood rain” left a coat of red dust over everything in its path, including cars, streets and balconies.

On this occasion, the north African dust greatly reduced visibility in most of the province. The red dust darkened the sky around midday on Sunday, surprising many residents and leading to people sharing their photos of the dense fog on social media.

Así amanecía hoy en la playa de la Albufereta de #Alicante, con nubosidad media y alta. También se aprecia el cielo muy turbio por la alta concentración de #PolvoSahariano.

📹 Alex Abu. pic.twitter.com/ZscNGXprxu
— Climatología UA (@climatologia_ua) February 21, 2021

Visibility was decreased so much that the coastline of the centre of Alicante was not visible from the Albufereta area, and the reddish fog covered large parts of l'Alacantí, leading the Climatology Laboratory of the University of Alicante to joke on Twitter that the Penyes Roges of San Vicente del Raspeig looked like Mars!

In Elche visibility was also reduced, although there was no fog, while in the Marina Alta area the dense red fog caused the silhouette of the Mount Montgó to be hidden from view in nearby areas including the town of Pedreguer.

The “red mist” had dissipated by Monday and the weather is set fair for the early part of the week although Aemet are forecasting that showers could arrive on Wednesday.