Saharan dust storm covering Spain spreads to France and Portugal

Madrid’s sky was tinged a dirty grey, with visibility reduced for a large swathe of the country

A worker cleans the dust from the Sahara desert in Sol square in Madrid, Spain (Manu Fernandez/AP)

A huge dust storm swirling over Europe from the Sahara desert made it hard to breathe in large parts of Spain for a second day on Wednesday, and left a film of dirt on cars and buildings in France and Portugal.

The European Union’s Copernicus Atmosphere Monitoring Service said it is tracking the large cloud that has “degraded air quality across large parts of Spain, Portugal and France”.