Weather – Marousakis: African dust and sea fogs, stifling the atmosphere in Crete

A dangerous cocktail and heat prevails in the last few days in the country, while the phenomenon is expected to begin to retreat from Thursday afternoon (28.3.2024). In Athens the phenomenon is quite intense, but the situation is unbearable in Crete where African dust has covered everything and has given an intense yellow hue to the atmosphere. In fact, on Wednesday the temperature exceeded 32 degrees Celsius, while on Thursday it reached 30 degrees Celsius. In his post on his website Clearchos Marousakis analyzes the phenomenon and explains why African dust affects mainly Crete. He writes: “On the one hand, this is due to the quite warm air masses that have come from Africa. However, the diversification observed in this area in relation to the average maximum temperatures recorded in our country is related to the topography shown by the area in combination with the wind field that prevailed.” He goes on to say: “South winds prevailed in the area which, as they interacted with the mountain volumes of the island, created downhill winds, i.e. winds which, as they descend from the mountain slopes, are greatly reinforced and at the same time heated since they lead to areas of greater barometric pressure. Thus, the already hot gas mass was further reinforced, leading mercury to higher prices than in our country. The dust goes away but for a while Clearchos Marousakis notes “after this powerful episode of African dust is expected gradually to normalise the whole situation from this afternoon and from the west as the wind will turn to a northwest by removing these large quantities to Turkey and Cyprus. This will improve the air quality a great deal tomorrow and also over the weekend. But this will not last for long since in Sunday and especially early next week a new milder episode of African dust will affect our region.” High temperatures and sea fogs However, he notes that the next hours will flow at high temperatures “at the beginning of next week we may encounter temperatures near or even above 30° degrees Celsius. This development will lead to the formation of dense fogs in sea and coastal areas.” “In the time when we are at sea level the temperature is close to 14° degrees north and close to 17° south. As the hot gas mass moves over these water – colder surfaces, it cools leading to the condensation of the water vapors it produces resulting in the formation of transport fogs a form of which is also sea fogs” it concludes.