Photo: Nkarol (Getty)
I’m not going to be the person to point out that orange snow is falling in Russia…orange…Russia…OK, I’ll let you all figure that out.
According to the NY Post, eastern Europe have been confronted with orange snow as places like Russia, Ukraine, Romania, Moldova and Bulgaria have all experience the strange phenomenon.
The snow also covered the slopes at Russia’s Sochi ski resort, which of course was the spot for the 2014 Winter Olympics. But according to experts, this orange view happens once every five years. Steven Keates, a meteorologist from the UK national weather service, explains that it is caused by desert sand drifting in from Africa. Here’s what Keates had to say:
“There has been a lot of lifted sand or dust originating from North Africa and the Sahara, from sandstorms which have formed in the desert. As the sand gets lifted to the upper levels of the atmosphere, it gets distributed elsewhere.”
Looking at satellite imagery from NASA, it shows a lot of sand and dust in the atmosphere drifting across the Mediterranean. When it rains or snows, it drags down whatever is up there, if there is sand in the atmosphere.”
So don’t worry, eastern Europe, all is well in your weather system, and the world isn’t ending. Well, at least not yet. But hey, at least we’ll have that Costco survival kit when the world finally does crumble.
