Shafaq News- Baghdad

A dust storm swept Baghdad on Tuesday evening, covering much of the Iraqi capital in thick clouds of dust and sharply reducing visibility.

Shafaq News footage showed streets under yellowish, dusty skies, with visibility severely limited in several areas.

The Iraqi Meteorological Organization said on Tuesday evening that a high-pressure system was driving a dust wave across the country, with dust expected to move toward western areas and Salah al-Din before gradually reaching Baghdad, Najaf, Karbala and Nasiriyah.

According to weather observer Sadiq Atiya, dust clouds would continue moving toward southwestern Iraq overnight and into early Wednesday, with northwesterly winds picking up.

Current forecasts show central Iraq, including Baghdad, will experience light to moderate dust overnight. Horizontal visibility in the capital could fall to between one and two kilometers, depending on dust density and wind activity.

Atiya expected visibility to improve gradually during the night.

Footage from Karbala showed another dust storm sweeping the city and other parts of central Iraq, with wind speeds reaching about 75 kilometers per hour. The dust was expected to ease slightly before midnight with weakening winds.

In May, more than 365 suffocation cases were recorded in Najaf after a powerful dust storm swept the southern Iraqi province, according to the provincial Health Directorate.

Read more: Iraq’s dust storms: deep environmental and political fault lines