File:Dust over the Nile River Delta (MODIS).jpg

English: On June 2, 2023, the Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) on board NASA’s Terra satellite acquired a true-color image of a massive cloud of dust stretching across the green Nile River Delta and the Mediterranean Sea.

The cloud of dust appears impressive from space, but on Earth the sandstorm proved even more dramatic as a blistering hot and strong khamsin wind carried a tower orange wall of dust from the Great Sand Sea northward. News photographers as well as residents captured heart-stopping photos of the oncoming cloud of dust in Cairo, Egypt and near the Suez Canal, then published them across various social media platforms and news outlets.

According to news reports, the vicious winds dropped a large billboard on a busy road in Cairo, killing at least one person and injuring others. Trees were toppled and residents were warned to stay inside, with windows closed. After the frontal edge of the dust storm passed, light rain followed, carrying some airborne dust to the ground as blistering temperatures registering about 104˚F (40˚C) cooked the region.

The khamsin is a hot, dry, dusty wind that blows across North Africa from the south or southeast in early spring and late winter. It is created by a center of low pressure moving over the Sahara Desert. The frontal edge of the khamsin wind carries extremely dry and very hot air from the desert as well as large amounts dust and sand northward. It may blow continuously for three or four days, but as it passes it usually is followed by much cooler air. Satellite imagery showed that this particular sandstorm affected northern Egypt on June 1-2, but skies were nearly clear by June 3.