An “exceptional” dust cloud from the Sahara moved over big parts of Europe the last couple of days. Car wash owners have seen a huge influx of customers, desperate to clean their cars from Sahara dust.

Car owners in Spain, France, Great Britain, the Benelux, Switzerland and Germany woke up rather frustrated, after checking their street parked cars. Many were covered in rust brown spots, after nocturnal rain brought dust from the clouds.

Copernicus Atmosphere Monitoring Service said the latest plume was bringing hazy conditions to southern Europe and would sweep northward as far as Scandinavia. It’s already the third dust cloud in recent weeks.

Changing patterns

Mark Parrington, senior scientist at Copernicus, said to French news agency AFP the latest event was related to a weather pattern that has brought warmer weather to parts of Europe last weekend.

“While it is not unusual for Saharan dust plumes to reach Europe, there has been an increase in the intensity and frequency of such episodes in recent years, which could be potentially attributed to changes in atmospheric circulation patterns,” he said.

Eventually, the dust outbreak even reached Denmark, Sweden and Finland last Tuesday.

The Sahara emits between 60 and 200 million tonnes of fine dust every year, which can travel thousands of miles, carried by winds and certain meteorological conditions.