After dust from the Sahara reached Lithuania, experts explained how dangerous it is and when to expect improvement

Vilma Bimbaitė, head of the Environmental Air Quality Assessment Department of the Environmental Protection Agency (AAA), explained that such phenomena occur once a year and this is certainly not the first case when dust from the Sahara reaches Lithuania.

“There is a dust storm in the Sahara, this time very intense. And dust comes to us with the air mass. The air mass travels from the south and pollution comes along with it,” she says and adds that after examining the composition of solid particles, the chemical elements that are characteristic of Saharan dust would most likely be there.

The pollution that has been lingering in Lithuania for several days is expected to dissipate soon. According to meteo.lt information, on Tuesday the wind direction will change from south to west, so the polluted air mass will be displaced by fresher air. An improvement in air quality can be expected in the second half of the day.

“We need a change in the air mass itself. Today, the situation in Lithuania starts to change after a little west, because the wind direction changes from the south to the west, which means that the western, cleaner air mass from the Atlantic Ocean displaces this dirty air mass and at the end of the day the weather will be much better in all of Lithuania. Maybe it will be easier to breathe, you won’t see such fog in the air,” says the interviewer.

A dust storm caused by strong winds in the Sahara is called Kalima. There are cases when the air turns a bright orange color during it.

Grynas.lt previously described how Sandra from Lithuania fell into one of these storms in Malaga, Spain.

“As soon as the plane took off, I saw that there was some kind of strange weather, and when I got off, I had such a gloomy feeling: everything was painted orange, there were few people, ghostly streets. Strange feeling.

“I went to the store to buy food. I saw that people were all wearing raincoats and they were all dirty. I thought again – where were they? But I came to the apartment and noticed that my white sweater was also all dirty. And most importantly, that dust doesn’t wash off. I didn’t see people walking around with masks on their faces and I went to the store without them. After that, he felt that dust gets into his eyes, nose, and settles on his face. I was already coughing a little before the trip, but when I woke up the next day, I started to cough very hard. It’s just that you can’t walk without a mask, and, I think, now people avoid going outside in this weather at all,” said the Lithuanian woman.

You can read more HERE.

Where to monitor information

Although we have not seen such bright colors in Lithuania, V. Bimbaitė says that residents should also protect their health and monitor changes in air quality.

“If people have respiratory problems, heart rhythm disorders, or are pregnant, small children should stay at home as much as possible, avoid going outside. Houses should be cleaned wet, because dust enters the rooms through vents and windows,” she says.

AAA experts have prepared an interactive air pollution monitoring map, where you can monitor the data and air pollution level of all automatic air quality testing stations in Lithuania in real time HERE.

The data on the interactive map is updated every hour.