African Dust: Monitoring Controversy over EMY – New Wave

The forecast for a new wave of African dust from Thursday evening has sparked a public row among meteorologists.

With his post on X, the director of the National Weather Service asked “What Dust?” He questioned Meteo's forecast with the characteristic phrase.

“In my personal opinion, the way the issue is presented is more worrying than what is being communicated to citizens,” he argued.

As he explained, the two most reliable weather models (Copernicus and Schron) did not predict significant transport of African dust.

Which powder?
I asked him to talk about the “coming” dust. But neither the reliable Copernicus nor the reliable scron have given us any significant amount of dust from which we can make declarations. All this tomorrow at 8 Beaufort with Meltemi. Dust transport must be… pic.twitter.com/Kj0xHjd6Zz

— Theodoros Kolitas (@kolidasti) April 11, 2024

Earlier on Thursday, Meteo, the weather service of the National Observatory of Athens warned “The general atmospheric circulation will favor the transport of dust from the northeast to our country, resulting in relatively high concentrations from Thursday noon”.

“Increased dust concentrations will continue through the weekend,” he said.

Atmospheric dust concentration increased from Thursday, April 11, 2024. Read about: https://t.co/6kj2733uGi pic.twitter.com/OlxPbkSuFs

— meteo.gr – Weather (@meteogr) April 11, 2024

Meteo's post is linked to a map showing relatively high dust concentrations across Greece, particularly in central and northern Greece.

Dust transport from the Sahara is usually due south, but according to Meteo, a new wave is expected from the northeast.

And Mr. Kolitas also predicted a meltemi (north wind) of intensity 8 Beaufort on Thursday.

For his part, OpenBeyond meteorologist Clearkos Maroussakis estimated that a new episode of African dust would begin on Sunday.