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CANARY ISLANDS

IN PICS ‘It’s like Mars’: Sahara sandstorm sweeps across Canary Islands

Known as a Calima in Spanish, the weather phenomenon saw high winds brings sand from the Sahara desert sweep across the Canary Islands.

Published: 24 February 2020 09:41 CET
IN PICS 'It's like Mars': Sahara sandstorm sweeps across Canary Islands
An image taken from a control tower on the Canary Islands. Photo: @J_Morillas / Twitter

Satelite footage shot by NASA shows the cloud of sand sweeping over the Canary Islands from the Sahara. 

And the forecast shows the phenonmenon is set to continue until Wednesday.

The dust cloud closed airspace over the Canary Islands and bathed eveything in an orange hue. 

This image was shot from the air traffic control tower at one of the airports on the archipelago. 

And here's some footage ofGran Canaria looking like a scene from Lawrence of Arabia but with a bicycle in place of a camel. 

The scene was repeated across the Canary Islands, from Gran Canaria to Tenerife to Lanzarote. 

 

 

And here's a shot of Las Canteras beach on the island of Las Palmas. 

 

Island authorities have declared a red alert and issued a list of recommendations which include closing doors and windows, drink lots of liquids and avoid exertion.  Those who suffer from respiratory problems are advised to stay indoors and drivers are told to be careful on the roads, use headlamps and cut speed as visibility is greatly reduced.  

 

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WEATHER

Norway to get a taste of summer with 20C days this week

Summer is finally here! Or least it is if you live in southern Norway, where a warm front coming up from Europe will bring t-shirt temperatures of 20C by Thursday, according to forecasts.

Published: 30 April 2024 08:42 CEST
Norway to get a taste of summer with 20C days this week

Warm air from southern Europe will combine with a high pressure zone which will bring clear skies and sunshine, with summery weather coming towards the end of the week, Norway’s national weather forecaster Yr has reported. 

“Thursday and Friday especially will be nice,” Ingrid Villa, a meteorologist at the Norwegian Meteorological Institute, told the public broadcaster NRK. “Then we will probably get temperatures of over 20 degrees Celsius in some places.” 

Patches of 20C warmth are expected both in western Norway around Bergen and in Western Norway around Oslo, with the area around Tromsø expected to have slightly cooler weather, although Villa said that “it will absolutely be something like summer there too”. 

The warm sunny weather is, however, expected to pass northern Norway by, with grey overcast skies expected for much of this week. 

But if you think summer has come to Norway to stay, you risk disappointment as much cooler temperatures are expected next week.  

“There’s nothing unusual in getting an early taste of summer in April and the start of May, and then we can quickly go back to cooler more spring-like weather,” Villa said. 

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