Sahara dust cloud smothers Germany, France and Switzerland

Parts of Europe were clouded on Saturday by an exceptionally rare haze of dust swept up from the Sahara desert.The dust cast an orange tinge in the skies over parts of France, Switzerland and southern Germany.In Germany, the dust is expected to be visible on Sunday as well.Between 60 and 200 million tons of mineral dust are swept up from the Sahara each year.

The blanket of Saharan dust affected air quality in some areas.Switzerland's air CHeck monitoring service flagged high levels of pollution in a corridor stretching from the southwest to the northeast of the country.Meanwhile, local authorities in France announced that the air pollution threshold had been passed in some areas and warned the residents against intense physical activities.