Spain Coated With Red-Orange Dust, Air Quality In Worst Rating

Hot air from the Sahara Desert has swirled over the Mediterranean Sea and coated Spain with red-orange dust, prompting authorities to issue extremely bad air quality warnings Tuesday for Madrid and a large swath of the country.

The national air quality index listed the capital and large parts of the southeast coast as “extremely unfavorable” — its worst rating.

Spain’s weather service described the dust storm from the Sahara as “extraordinary and very intense,” while adding that it was unclear if it was the worst episode of its kind on record.

Spain’s weather service forecast that the dust will continue to accumulate through Wednesday and could reach as far north as the Netherlands and northwestern Germany.

On Tuesday, the dust storm spilled over into neighboring Portugal.

Many Spaniards awoke to find a layer of red-orange dust covering their terraces, streets and cars.

The sky in the capital and other cities had a gritty tinge. Visibility in Madrid and cities like Granada and Leon was reduced to 2.5 miles (four kilometers), the weather service said.