Correspondents of “Chronicles of Turkmenistan” report that on 28 May a salt storm which erupted in the night of 27 May in the north of the country, reached Ashgabat. The smog from the salt and dust hit Ashgabat leaving residential buildings and trees covered with white salt.
During the night of 27 May the north-western part of Uzbekistan and the north-eastern part of Turkmenistan were hit by the salt dust storm, which was brought with the wind from the dust and salt desert of Aralkum located in the drying Aral Sea.
The most affected areas are the Republic of Karakalpakstan and Khorezm regions in Uzbekistan and Dashoguz and Lebap velayats in Turkmenistan.
According to Uzbekistan’s weather service, the salt was brought by winds from the Aral region of the country with speeds reaching over 20 m/s.
The north-western wind brought dust from the Republic of Karakalpakstan to Dashoguz and Lebap velayats of Turkmenistan during the night of 27 May.The regions were gradually covered with salt and dust as from 2 a.m.
The storm continued into the late afternoon and in some areas the layer of salt reached 1 centimeter.According to the news outlet “Fergana”, the salt covered fruit orchards as well as cotton and wheat fields.
After the salt sand covering an area of 5.5 million hectares had appeared in the Aral Sea area which has dried out, salt storms break out there on over 90 days a year, spreading over 100 million tons of salt and poisonous particles into the atmosphere for thousands of kilometers every year.
The Aral salts have been discovered in Europe and the Antarctic.