It was a hot sunny day when short before one o’ clock Monday noon, a huge grey cloud started to move in hell’s speed from the South to the West. Many Athenians. KTG administrator included, thought the city of Athens was under attack of a particularly aggressive Sahara Dust cloud, as meteorologists have forecast.
This Sahara Dust coming to #Athens from #Greece's South is moving in high speed and it's awful. pic.twitter.com/qaewfvG0Qu
— Keep Talking Greece (@keeptalkingGR) July 23, 2018
Ο ουρανός της Αθήνας έγινε κίτρινος από την Αφρικανική #σκονη #HappeningNow
Yellow the #Athens sky because of African dust pic.twitter.com/sOhMRMzDUm— Lazaros Kokkalis (@LazarosKokkalis) July 23, 2018
Soon the cloud thickened and turned more and more yellow.
Soon the truth was revealed. A huge fire in the pine forest in Kineta in Western Attica.
Άλλαξε χρώμα ο ουρανός #φωτια #Κινετα #Δυτικη_Αττικη pic.twitter.com/xMzNbY4PUR
— Ισμήνη Βογιατζή (@IsmeneVogiatzi) July 23, 2018
For some of us, especially with those whose home or office has South-West orientation, it made no sense that the cloud came from the South although Kineta is in the West.
Συγγρού τώρα. 😢 #φωτιά #kineta pic.twitter.com/85OiJZUVn1
— Yannis (@jwr_) July 23, 2018
By 2:15 p.m. the weird phenomenon had become pretty clear: The thick yellow-grayish cloud is now concentrated in the West, right above Kineta and the broader South-West Attica area.
Heartbreaking … this is how it looks from Athens the fire in Kineta 70 kilometers away pic.twitter.com/eJWdzevVHE
— Dimitris Galanis (@dimitrigalanis) July 23, 2018
Did the sudden strong wind whirl the forest fire smoke around and had us think it was coming from another direction?
Or were we exposed to some kind of once in a life time surreal moments?
Athens sky has its Blade Runner filter on. pic.twitter.com/SshDExl6vf
— ʏɪᴀɴɴɪs ʙᴀʙᴏᴜʟɪᴀs (@YiannisBab) July 23, 2018
Meteorologist Christina Souzi told SkKy TV that the wind come sform the West with 5 to 6 Beaufort. As the big fire in Kineta creates its own micro-climate it can force the wind to change directions -North, East and South – and carry away the smoke respectively.
On the serious side of the phenomenon, the forest fire in Kineta looks pretty bad if not dramatic and many locals have already abandoned their homes. The fire front extends to 5-6 km, the deputy mayor of Megara told media.- A report about the fire will follow soon in a separate post.
The Greek Civil Protection had already warned on Sunday of the Very High Risk of Fire in Attica for today, Monday.
