Skies turn orange as dust from Sahara dumped on Spain

A red and orange tinged sky is seen over the City of Arts and Sciences in Valencia (Europa Press via AP)

Spanish officials have issued extremely poor air quality ratings for Madrid and a large swathe of the country after a mass of hot air from the Sahara dumped dust after crossing the Mediterranean.

Spain’s national air quality index qualified the capital and large parts of the south-east coast as “extremely unfavourable” – its worst rating.