In Ukraine, the days are unusually warm for the end of March and the beginning of April. In Kyiv, March 31 was the warmest day in more than 140 years. The air temperature warmed up to 24°C.
A record plus temperature was recorded in Lviv + 23.5°С, and in Rivne +26.2°С.
Although not long ago in some regions there were frosts down to -1 °C at night.
At the same time, dust from the Sahara covered the country.
BBC Ukraine found out why this is happening and what the weather will be like in April.
Warm masses
Over the past few days, heat has intensively reached Ukraine from the southwestern latitudes, which is why the temperatures were so high, explains the warm end of March and the beginning of April, forecaster of the Ukrainian Hydrometeorological Center Natalya Ptukh.
At that time, there was a field of high pressure in Ukraine, so the weather was cloudy.
"And when the weather is cloudless and it is spring, there is enough time at night for the air masses to cool down. When there are no clouds, the air cools down quickly at night. Because clouds play the role of such a conventional blanket for the surface layer of air. If there are no clouds, the heat is intensively released," says the forecaster.
That is why the nights were cold. Although already on April 1, the temperature rose significantly at night.
According to Natalia Ptukha's forecasts, such warm weather will last until April 2. And already from April 2, the cooling will gradually come. Rains and thunderstorms will begin in the west of the country.
"There will be a restructuring of synoptic processes. Air masses will prevail not from the south, but from the west. This air mass will knock down these high temperatures," Ms. Ptukha predicts.
PHOTO AUTHOR, UNIAN
Rain is forecast in the northern regions on Wednesday, April 3, and in the central regions on Thursday, April 4.
However, the cooling will not be critical. On the contrary, the temperature will return to the average values of April.
It will no longer be warm at +20 °C, predicts the Ukrhydrometeorological center.
Starting from Tuesday, April 2, the temperature indicators will gradually decrease to +11°С and to +16°С.
At the end of the week, April 4-5, the temperature will be between +10 and +16 °С. In Transcarpathia, it will be 13-19 °C.
Dust from the Sahara
PHOTO AUTHOR, EUMETSAT Photo caption, Bringing dust from the Sahara is visible in a satellite image from the EUMETSAT platform
Along with the heat from the southern latitudes, dust from the Sahara desert came to Ukraine.
Residents of the western regions could observe it yesterday, and today the dust will spread to most regions of Ukraine. The sky will be dim.
"It just so happened that on the way of these warm air masses from the southern latitudes, this dust from the north of the Sahara took place," says the forecaster.
Most of this dust settled in the Mediterranean Sea and the Balkans.
Finely dispersed particles have already reached Ukraine, which is expressed by the dustiness of the sky.
It is about the phenomenon of dustiness and fog, and not about a dust storm, the expert emphasizes.
People are advised to stay outdoors less now, to close windows, because dust can be harmful to the elderly, people with respiratory diseases, and children.
"Our dusting of the air is the echo of a truly distant sandstorm," explains weather forecaster Natalya Didenko and elaborates - A dust storm is when a strong wind blows for a long time, the soil dries out, then the wind drives dust, soil, and grains of sand across large-scale spaces.
In Ukraine, dust storms most often occur in the south and southeast.
There are exceptions and larger distributions.
Such dustiness will be only on April 1 and 2. It will disappear with the rains.
"Such a phenomenon happens from time to time, although it is quite rare. Dust from the Sahara can enter Ukraine once every few years. Of course, there is a certain correlation of this with general warming processes, but it is impossible to say that this particular case is a consequence of global warming. This has happened before on different scales. Nothing extraordinary is happening right now," says the forecaster of the Ukrainian Hydrometeorological Center.
What will April be like?
PHOTO AUTHOR, BBC
According to forecasters, April is not expected to be hot. The temperature is predicted to be closer to the average of the month - 8-13 degrees.
Perhaps only in the western, Vinnytsia and Odesa regions it will be 1-1.5 degrees above normal.
The first days of April will be warmer, and then the temperature will drop somewhat.
On April 2, there will be changeable cloudiness in Kyiv, no precipitation at night, light rain in places during the day.
The air temperature at night in the capital will be from +14 to +12 degrees, during the day - +21 and +23 degrees.
Also, on April 2, strong winds are forecast in Ukraine - gusts up to 15-20 m/s at night in the western regions and during the day in almost the entire territory of Ukraine, 25-30 m/s in the Carpathian highlands.
September 2023 in Kyiv became the warmest in the last 142 years.
What the weather will be like in Ukraine in half a century, what new animals, plants, phenomena and diseases will appear, read in the material of the BBC - Spain or Australia. How the climate of Ukraine will change in 50 years.
