Dust from the desert regions of Central Asia has reached Ukraine
28 May 2024 18:19
Desert dust has once again reached Ukraine, this time from Central Asia. Photos taken this morning in Kyiv show how dusty the atmosphere has become, reports "Komersant Ukrainian" reports with reference to the BBC.
However, there is no question of a dust storm, as this requires a wind of a certain speed.
“We will not call it a dust storm. In Ukraine, it will be dustiness of the atmosphere. Those particles that reach us will be washed away by rains, sometimes with thunderstorms,”
– explained weather forecaster Natalia Ptukha.
A similar phenomenon was observed in Ukraine in April, when dust from the Sahara came to us.
Although the dust does not pose a serious risk, people with sensitive health conditions are advised to avoid being outside and close windows until the dust settles after the rains.
What is a dust storm?
A duststorm is an atmospheric phenomenon of wind carrying large amounts of dust, sand, soil particles, etc. A dust storm can be several metres to several kilometres high, and line of sight at its epicentre can be reduced to several tens of metres. If a dust storm is formed over sandy soils, it is called a sand storm
A dust storm is formed when winds of 10 m/s or more blow over dry and sparsely vegetated soil. It lifts soil particles into the air and carries them over long distances. Such storms are most common in deserts and semi-deserts, arable steppes, etc. On the planet, they are common in the regions of North Africa, the Middle East, Central Asia and China. Dust storms can sometimes travel thousands of kilometres.
The frequency of dust storms has increased 10-fold since the 1950s. There are regions that suffer from this phenomenon more than others. For example, while in the 1960s Mauritania used to experience two such storms a year, since 2007 there have been about 80 per year.
