Last weekend, the snow in the Caucasus Mountains along the Russia-Georgia border turned orange. It has happened before, but this time the orange was not just a little orange but fully orange. The culprit was dust from the Sahara.
From time to time, when the wind patterns allow it, Saharan dust is blown northward into Europe. Most of the time, the dust settles and makes things outside turn slightly dirty.
But last weekend in and around the city of Sochi, there was enough snow to turn the snowy slopes of the Caucasus a bright orange. The snow was so dirty, it made snowboarding and skiing difficult because the snow became so terribly gritty. The dust was visible on NASA satellite imagery and was said to have been the thickest concentration in more than 10 years.
