In a bizarre turn of events, the snow in Russia, Romania, and Bulgaria has apparently turned orange — but don’t worry, it’s not because the snowy slopes are getting too much sun.
Apparently, sand and dust from storms in North Africa have been swept up and deposited in the snowy parts of eastern Europe, resulting in heaps of strange orange snow that resemble something from the Star Wars universe.
“There has been a lot of lifted sand or dust originating from North Africa and the Sahara, from sandstorms which have formed in the desert,” Steven Keates of the UK’s Met Office told The Independent. “As the sand gets lifted to the upper levels of the atmosphere, it gets distributed elsewhere. Looking at satellite imagery from NASA, it shows a lot of sand and dust in the atmosphere drifting across the Mediterranean. When it rains or snows, it drags down whatever is up there, if there is sand in the atmosphere.”
Skiiers near the Russian city of Sochi were baffled and entranced by the bizarre sight.
If you’ve ever wondered what a ski trip on Mars would look like, now you have your answer.
Silver lining: orange snow makes for great Instas.
This isn’t the first instance of such a bizarre weather occurrence, however. Earlier this year, the Sahara desert experienced significant snowfall — so this unexpected orange snow certainly seems like a bit of payback.
(And yes, this is as light and fun as I can be while talking about bizarre weather patterns which can most likely be attributed to global warming!)