Saharan dust takes over Malta’s skies creating dangerous air quality

A Saharan dust cloud covered Malta on Monday, causing the sky to appear hazy and raising air quality indices.

The suspension of dust, which is a regular meteorological occurrence in the central Mediterranean and carried by strong southerly winds, also reduced overall visibility across the Maltese Islands.

Overnight, the air quality monitors operated by the Environment and Resources Authority flagged extremely high PM10 levels. PM10 readings show the level of coarse airborne particles in the air.

In localities across Malta, such as Msida, St Paul’s Bay, and Attard, PM2.5 readings were reported, while Gharb in Gozo reported a PM10 reading, according to local air quality tracker arja.mt.

The event is being driven by a weather depression over Sardinia, which extends down to Libya and slowly moves northeastwards.

This type of weather can pose public health risks and be especially problematic for those with conditions such as asthma, as PM10 and PM2.5 particles are small enough to enter the respiratory system (Photo: James Bianchi/MaltaToday)

The weather forecast on the Meteorological Office website confirms that it is currently hazy due to suspended dust, which will transition to generally fine, clear conditions.

As for temperature, Monday will see a high of 24°C with a low of 15°C.

Saharan dust can travel thousands of kilometres, degrading air quality, affecting health, and causing flight delays, while over the oceans it can fertilise phytoplankton blooms that underpin the marine food chain.

Apart from this, this type of weather can pose public health risks and be especially problematic for those with conditions such as asthma, as PM10 and PM2.5 particles are small enough to enter the respiratory system.

The rest of the week is forecast to have possible showers on Tuesday and Thursday, with Wednesday and Thursday expected to be cloudy.