Orange Crush
What if you woke up one morning and everything around you was orange? The sky was orange, the sun was orange, as far as you could see the entire country was orange. An experienced Greek would say, I must be in Athens. While this orange flush might seem scary or crazy to most of us, the folks who live in Athens get the Orange treatment several times a year. They are used to it, but it does leave a layer of dust on everything for a few days. This is a good geography lesson through: The Sahara desert is South on the other side of the Mediterranean sea from Greece and Athens in particular and several times a year the winds coming up from the heart of Arica blow across the worlds largest desert picking up all of that loose dust and carries even across the sea to linger in the air on Greece and particularly around Athens which is a little higher than the surrounding landscape.
Authorities in Greece warn the dust concentrations can reduce sunlight and visibility, while increasing levels of fine pollution particles pose health risks. Clouds of dust blown in from the Sahara Tuesday were one of the worst such episodes to hit the country since 2018, officials said. A yellow-orange haze smothered several regions after days of strong winds from the south, limiting visibility and prompting warnings from the authorities of breathing risks. “It’s one of the most serious episodes of dust and sand concentrations from the Sahara since March, 2018, when the clouds invaded the island of Crete in particular,” said Kostas Lagouvardos, weather research director at the Athens Observatory. Greece had already been struck by Sahara dust clouds in late March and early April which also smothered parts of Switzerland and southern France. The Sahara releases 60 to 200m tons of mineral dust a year. While the largest particles come rapidly back down to earth, the smallest can travel thousands of miles potentially reaching all of Europe.
The strong southerly winds over the past few days have also fanned unseasonal early wildfires in the country’s south. By Wednesday morning, the Acropolis was no longer visible, hidden in the cloud of dust. A Facebook post, described the city as “our colony on Mars.” On Tuesday, according to IQAir, Athens’ air quality index (AQI) spiked to 131 around 11 a.m. local time—a level deemed “unhealthy for sensitive groups” and well above the “good” and “moderate” ranges. This summer has so far been hotter and drier than usual all-over southern Europe. Wednesday evening, the skies over Athens had gradually begun to clear. The heat, however, continued moving across the region—setting high temperature records in Niger, Chad and Turkey Wednesday and moving to the east on Thursday.
Greek Humor, Orange you glad?
My wife said I look like a Greek god.
Her actual words were “Put your shirt on, we’re in a museum” but I knew what she meant.
According to Greek Mythology, Chiron was a half-human, half-horse doctor.
This made him the Centaur for Disease Control.
What was the name of the Greek hero that was punished by the gods for gluttony?
Diabetes.
Which Greek philosopher had the most hair?
Follikles.
June 5th Birthdays
1977 – Liza Weil, 1971 – Susan Lynch, 1961 – Teri Nunn, 1953 – Kathleen Kennedy
1981 – Mark Walberg, 1979 – Nick Kroll, 1975 – Chad Allen, 1956 – Kenny Gee