Dust and sand from Sahara turns European skies and snow orange

A Sahara dust plume has swept across ski resorts in the Alps and coloured the snow orange as a sandstorm from the African desert made its way across Europe

While this is a common occurrence, meteorologists said winds were stronger than usual this time around and brought more dust particles with them. Skiers were still seen taking to the slopes.

The orange tint is the result of strong winds in Africa causing the sand to sweep across to Europe before it settles onto the snow in the mountain ranges.

The National Meteorological and Climate Service for France tweeted a satellite picture showing the sand from the Sahara, captioned: ‘Seen from space: A low pressure system on the Iberian Peninsula organises a powerful southerly flow which brings up sand from the #Sahara as far as France.