Cartagena joins Murcia in providing free bus services while African dust pollution episode lastsPM 10 particle levels dropped on Friday morning but are still in excess of the alert thresholdAfter the air quality dropped dramatically on Wednesday and Thursday as a cloud of mineral dust from north Africa reached the Region of Murcia it appears on Friday that the situation has improved somewhat, but in spite of this the Town Hall of Cartagena has followed the lead taken by their counterparts in Murcia and announced that travelling on public buses in and around the city will be free throughout the day. By Friday morning the figure had dropped to 64 µg/m3 in San Basilio, 80 µg/m3 in Alumbres, just outside Cartagena and only 27 µg/m3 in Caravaca de la Cruz, but the expectation is that the problem is likely to remain in much of Spain for a few days. In any case, it will be interesting to see the response to the offer of free public transport in Murcia and Cartagena as efforts are made to reduce the amount of traffic in the two largest cities of the Region. Who knows, if enough people take up the offer the administrations may be tempted to look at improving public transport and making it free as a long-term measure to reduce the amount of contamination produced by exhaust fumes! Join the Murcia Weather Watch group on Facebook to keep up to date with all the latest forecasts and weather-related stories: https://www.facebook.com/groups/RegionOfMurciaWeatherWatch/.

Source: The North Africa Journal January 24, 2020 09:00 UTC