Here's why Spain's sky turned red-orange in colour

As photographs of eye catching red-orange coloured sky in Spain did the social media rounds, netizens looked at the unusual sky in awe, not knowing it was a sound of alarm for the European nation. Videos showed Spain's landscape looking red-orange in shade.

Spanish people woke up to see the red-orange coloured sky and were left bewildered. Soon they found a layer of red-orange dust covering their terraces, streets and cars. The sky in the capital and other cities bore the red-orange tinge. Visibility in Madrid other cities like Granada and Leon was reduced to 2.5 miles (four kilometers), the weather service reported.

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What is the cause behind it?

Un "excepcional" episodio de polvo procedente del desierto del #Sahara se registra desde este lunes en varias provincias mediterráneas de #Espana , un fenómeno que no se producía con esta intensidad desde hacía varios años. #SaharanDust #Calima #PolvoSahariano #Almeria #Cartagena pic.twitter.com/3CPiyzDQni

— AUSTROHÚNGARO (@AUSTROHNGARO2) March 15, 2022

The BBC reported that skies across Spain turned orange after a Saharan dust cloud hit the area on Tuesday.

Spain has issued alerts on air quality after a mass of hot air from the Sahara desert led to enormous dust clouds blanketing the country.

The capital Madrid, along with resort towns in the Southeast, are bearing the brunt of the dust being driven in from the Mediterranean.

As red-orange dust-filled parts of Spain, authorities issued extremely bad air quality warnings for Madrid, as per the AP report. 

No, this isn't a filter. This is our Spanish farmer Sebastian's watermelon crop this morning following a storm. Dust from the Sahara Desert has fallen across Spain, turning the sky rusty orange too.
What a sight pic.twitter.com/tHUJ7NALEf

— Riverford (@Riverford) March 15, 2022

The national air quality index listed the capital and large parts of the southeast coast as 'extremely unfavorable', its worst rating.

Residents of Madrid and other affected cities across Spain were advised to use face masks and avoid any outdoor exercises.

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Weather service said the dust storm was 'extraordinary and very intense', forecasting it would continue to spread through Wednesday.

Spain's weather service also forecasted that the dust could reach as far north as the Netherlands and northwestern Germany.

The expansion of the Sahara Desert over the past century has increased the potential for larger dust storms in Europe.

The wave of hot air has also affected the air quality north of Madrid, as far west as the Canary Islands in the Atlantic Ocean.