With the exception of snow that’s glowing under streetlights, orange snow seems like a visual you’d only find in your wildest arty dreams, but it’s actually a thing that covered and colored a lot of land recently in Eastern Europe. Basically, imagine what it would look like if peach nice cream fell from the sky to create an IRL version of the Candy Land board game.
The phenomenon only happens once every five years, when sandstorms from the Sahara Desert mix with rain and snow, reports Time. And, not surprisingly, the result is making waves on social media…because how can you not Instagram sun-colored snow (especially when spring’s warmth insists on arriving fashionably late)?
“Looking at satellite imagery from NASA, it shows a lot of sand and dust in the atmosphere drifting across the Mediterranean. When it rains or snows, it drags down whatever is up there, if there is sand in the atmosphere.” —Steven Keates, meteorologist
“There has been a lot of lifted sand or dust originating from North Africa and the Sahara, from sandstorms, which have formed in the desert,” meteorologist Steven Keates told The Independent. “Looking at satellite imagery from NASA, it shows a lot of sand and dust in the atmosphere drifting across the Mediterranean. When it rains or snows, it drags down whatever is up there, if there is sand in the atmosphere.”
In the likely event that you can’t make it to the orange-snow-covered countries—from Russia and the Ukraine to Bulgaria and Romania—before it all melts, feast your eyes on the crazy weather below, perhaps while sipping some trendy orange wine.
You need to see these photos of Europe’s orange snow to believe ’em.
Watch Kate Middleton score a goal in snow boots while playing Swedish ice hockey. Or, try Karlie Kloss’ thigh-strengthening snow-day exercise.