Skies over southern Greece turned an orange hue on Tuesday as mud clouds blown throughout the Mediterranean Sea from North Africa engulfed the Acropolis and different Athens landmarks.
Robust southerly winds carried the mud from the Sahara Desert, giving the environment of the Greek capital a Martian-like filter within the final hours of daylight.
The skies are predicted to clear on Wednesday as winds shift and transfer the mud, with temperatures dipping. On Tuesday, the each day excessive in components of the southern island of Crete topped 30 C, greater than 20 C larger than what was registered in a lot of northern Greece.
The sturdy southerly winds over the previous few days have additionally fanned unseasonal early wildfires within the nation’s south.
The fireplace service mentioned Tuesday night that 25 wildfires broke out throughout the nation previously 24 hours. Three individuals had been arrested on the Aegean Sea resort island of Paros on suspicion of by accident beginning a scrub blaze on Monday, it added. No vital injury or accidents had been reported, and the hearth was rapidly contained.
One other blaze that broke out on Crete close to a naval base was introduced below management Tuesday.
Greece suffers devastating, and sometimes lethal, forest blazes each summer season, and final yr the nation recorded the European Union’s largest wildfire in additional than twenty years. Persistent drought mixed with excessive spring temperatures have raised fears of a very difficult interval for firefighters within the coming months.