
Dust storm over the Mediterranean Sea
21 February 2004 00:00 UTC


A major dust outbreak from Algeria to the western Mediterranean occurred on 21 February 2004 when a cyclone crossed Western Europe and north-western Africa.
Last Updated
20 April 2022
Published on
20 February 2004
A long trailing cold front was positioned in an unusually pronounced trough extending from the Azores across northern Africa to Western Europe. A cyclone, developed from a wave in this front, moved rapidly across the Balearics in a north-easterly direction, pushing sand and dust from the Sahara desert across the Mediterranean Sea. The dust, which even reached Central Europe, is clearly visible in HRV images and in RGB colour composites produced from brightness temperature differences of various IR window channels.
The images below also show the high-level frontal bands over northern Africa and Spain, together with lee waves formed by the Atlas, Sierra Morena and Sierra Nevada mountains.