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Orange snow falls on Russian ski slopes!

Several countries in Eastern Europe find their summits covered in orange snow! Credits: Margarita Alshina on Intagram

All at the same time, mountain summits in several Eastern European countries were covered in orange snow. It appears that this phenomenon occurs periodically, much to the delight of skiers. So how is it possible?

As revealed by the Sunday Express on 26th March 2018, skiers in the mountains of Bulgaria, Romania, the Ukraine and Russia were spellbound by a rather rare, although well-known, event: the snow falling from the sky turns orange. This orange snow covered the slopes, notably those of Sochi in Russia, which hosted the Winter Olympics in 2014.

So is it because of an industrial disaster, or of nuclear origin? It’s true that there is a rather apocalyptic aspect to the occurrence, creating an almost Martian landscape. But in fact the phenomenon couldn’t be more natural! It is winds coming from the Sahara that are responsible for this orange colour, which brought sands with them from the largest desert in the world. This phenomenon occurs approximately once every five years.

In terms of amazing phenomena, the desert and the mountains appear to frequently exchange pleasantries. A few days before the Christmas holidays in 2016, snow fell in the Sahara for the first time in almost four decades, a phenomenon which was repeated in January 2018. In any case,  whether it’s snow in the Sahara or sand in the snow in the mountains, it’s better not to try and taste it!

Here is a video published by Ruptly, assembling amateur images of the recent fall of orange snow.

Sources: MashableFrance Info7 sur 7