Khamsin

Today we had one of the special weather phenomena that leave you dumbfounded. Originally the name Khamsin comes from Egypt and describes a wind from the Sahara -- hot and full of sand. In our case it is more often a wind from the desert east of us that carry fine sand in the air.

The visibility today was almost as though there was a fog, a fierce wind was blowing and the temperature climbed almost 15C above what it was the previous day.

Driving back home in the afternoon, one could barely see the view few hundred meters ahead.

(Don't worry, I don't take pictures while driving, I had Inbar as a passanger and she gets the photo credits).

Coming home from work, I could feel the fine layer of dust on my laptop keyboard, which was standing in my office today.

Science wise, this type of weather has immediate implications. The dust carries micro-organisms that can pollute samples, it blocks air filters, and gets in the way of fine mechanisms.