Russia and eastern Europe were blanketed with orange snow in a freak weather event

pavel.zhilyakov/Instagram

A still from a video taken at the Alpika Service ski resort in Estosadok, Russia.

• Russia and eastern Europe were blanketed with orange-tinted snow over the weekend.
• Storms in northern Africa picked up sand from the Sahara desert and blew it across Europe.
• The dust then mixed with snow and rain, turning the snow orange.

Parts of Russia and eastern Europe were blanketed with orange-tinted snow over the weekend after sand from the Sahara desert blew across Europe.

Storms in northern Africa picked up sand, dust, and pollen particles from the Sahara and blew them across the Mediterranean and Europe, The Independent reported. It then mixed with snow and rain in eastern Europe and Russia, turning the snow orange.

Skiers and snowboarders in Russia, Ukraine, Bulgaria, Moldova, and Romania posted photos of the surreal scenes on social media on Friday and Saturday. People in the region complained of sand in their mouths, the BBC reported.

The weather phenomenon happens every five years or so, and has previously occurred in other parts in the world, meteorologists said.

The same weather event also caused the skies in Greek island of Crete to turn orange on Thursday.

Take a look at the orange snow in Russia and eastern Europe:

And orange skies in Crete: