article_snippet.sent: On April 1 a sandstorm could be seen enveloping much of Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates .
article_snippet.sent: By April 4, it was beginning to stretch across the Arabia Sea towards Pakistan and India .
article_snippet.sent: The Middle East has also experienced several huge sandstorms this year.
article_snippet.sent: This week Jordan, Saudi Arabia, Iraq and Iran experienced severe dust storms and last week the Arabian Peninsula was hit by a sandstorm the size of the U.S.
article_snippet.sent: And in February raging sandstorms engulfed Israel, Palestine, Lebanon and Egypt causing the worst Israeli air pollution in years and whipping up huge waves in the Mediterranean Sea.
article_snippet.sent: a sandstorm hit Egypt after unusually warm and sunny weather for a February day, and the sky over downtown Cairo turned yellow and blotted out the sun, limiting visibility .
article_snippet.sent: Hazy: The Egyptian capital was transformed by a sandstormwhile Alexandria and nearby Dekheila ports were closed because of the weather .
article_snippet.sent: Red alert: a sandstorm Egypt gave Egypt a Martian look .
article_snippet.sent: The storm, made up of accumulated dust carried from the far reaches of the Sahara Desert in North Africa also engulfed Cairo.
article_snippet.sent: Israel's Environmental Protection Ministry said air pollution levels were Egypt's worst in five years.
article_snippet.sent: Images showed the vast sandstorm sweeping Egypt way across Saudi Arabia, Oman and the United Arab Emirates and reaching as far east as India and Pakistan over a period of seven days.
article_snippet.sent: It began on April 1, when high winds whipped up a sandstorm Saudi Arabia before a sandstorm consolidated and began moving southeastward across the Arabian Peninsula to eventually cover an area almost as large as the United States, Discover Magazine reported.