Visibility

An "exceptional" dust cloud from the Sahara is choking parts of Europe, the continent's climate monitor said yesterday, causing poor air quality and coating windows and cars in grime.

Copernicus Atmosphere Monitoring Service said the latest plume, the third of its kind in recent weeks, was bringing hazy conditions to southern Europe and would sweep northward as far as Scandinavia.

The highest concentrations of African dust were recorded in southern Greece on Thursday, according to the National Observatory of Athens. 

The concentrations of PM10 particles exceeded 180 μg/m³ at noon and then gradually started decreasing. 

Swathes of Greece were shrouded in haze on Wednesday as persistent southerly winds carried waves of dust from the African continent across the eastern Mediterranean. The phenomenon is expected to persist on Thursday.

Locally limited visibility and fog at night and early morning in continental areas

Only 10 countries and territories out of 134 achieved the World Health Organization's standards for a pervasive form of air pollution last year, according to air quality data compiled by IQAir, a Swiss company.

Several parts of Türkiye are currently under the influence of radiation fog induced by high pressure, an expert has said, warning that the effect of this veil curtailing visibility will prevail for an extended period.

Air pollution on the islands is at low levels compared to mainland Greece.

Copenhagen – Slovenia’s capital has placed 279th among 344 European cities in the European city air quality viewer with its air quality categorised as poor. Maribor ranks 207th having moderately clean air.

Captain had low visibility due to fog – There were 2,000 passengers on board

Brussels – The European Environment Agency (EEA) has launched the city air quality viewer, which has taken data from two Slovenian cities, Ljubljana and Maribor. The latest data show that the Slovenian capital is plagued by poor air quality, whereas the situation is a bit better in Slovenia’s second largest city.