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After large amounts of Saharan dust had reached us several times in the last few weeks, low “Pamela” provided the next boost. However, the quantities are significantly lower than in mid-March.
Today, Monday, at the start of the week, it is often sunny, but there are already a few veils of clouds that cloud the sky a bit.
Legend:
It won’t be quite as gloomy as it was on March 15, 22, as we expect less dust than back then.
Luke Wyss
clouds are getting denser
From Tuesday, not only will many cloud fields cover the sun again and again, Sahara dust will also cloud the sky a bit. Above all, however, the Sahara dust favors the formation of clouds at high altitudes. From Tuesday it can happen that the weather models predict thin veil clouds, but these are significantly denser due to Saharan dust and temporarily cover the sun completely.
Not that warm
The Sahara dust therefore not only has an influence on the duration of sunshine, but also on the temperatures. The automatic weather forecasts, such as our app or our local forecast on the website, usually do not recognize the Sahara dust. So in the middle of the week it will probably not be quite as warm as currently predicted, since the power of the sun will be dampened.
Legend:
Percentage of Sahara dust events in Switzerland per month
SRF METEO
How does the dust from the desert get to us?
This requires strong winds in the desert region. In North Africa, stormy weather is often triggered by low pressure areas. This time it is an extension of the low “Pamela”, which is currently still over the Atlantic. The associated wind whirls up sand and the finer particles are lifted several thousand meters. With the corresponding high winds, the dust is then transported via Spain and France to the Alps.
Whether the Sahara dust is deposited again in large quantities here depends primarily on the precipitation. It currently looks as if some showers will wash some dust out of the air on Maundy Thursday or Good Friday.