High dust concentration was reported during half of April days in Cyprus, the Director of Meteorology Department, Kleanthis Nicolaides, told CNA on Sunday.
High dust concentration was reported during half of April days in Cyprus, the Director of Meteorology Department, Kleanthis Nicolaides, told CNA on Sunday. He also said that the current episode of dust in the atmosphere is expected to dissipate this Sunday, after light rainfall in the afternoon in the Ammochostos areas and beyond.
He explained that dust episodes are usually expected from February until summer in Cyprus, but they used to be shorter, rarer and with smaller concentration of particles in the atmosphere. These past few years, he said, the episodes tend to increase, just as their duration and the concentration of particles increase, as well.
“We had around 15-30 days of dust episodes in April and the Air Quality Monitoring Stations in Cyprus indicated that the PM concentration levels related to dust episodes (PM 10 and PM 2.5) had reached the yellow warning level”, Nicolaides said and explained that high concentration of PM 2.5 is quite alarming, as these smaller particles can enter a human’s blood circulation through the respiratory system and cause allergies.
As satellite images show, the dust in the atmosphere of northern Africa and Cyprus is permanent, he added. As for the latest episode, he explained that the dust started to recede after the light rainfall on Saturday and earlier on Sunday, but he also warned that this may not be the last of such episodes.
Source: Cyprus News Agency