Bad news for people with health problems but a welcome development for enriching the soil, desert dust from Africa was expected to land in Turkey on Tuesday. The alteration in the weather pattern, which will be first experienced in western Turkey, will be widespread on Thursday and Friday.

Turkey is anticipating a warm spell except for some areas in the east this week, with temperatures expected to rise by 5 degrees Celsius (41 degrees Fahrenheit) to 10 degrees Celsius (50 degrees Fahrenheit) on Wednesday.

The dust storm, which started from North Africa, will accompany the spring weather. Professor Hüseyin Toros, a meteorology expert from Istanbul Technical University (İTÜ) told Anadolu Agency (AA) on Tuesday that the desert dust would linger and will disappear after moving to the east by the weekend. Toros warned that the concentration of dust in the air would affect people with respiratory problems and impact their immunity. He urged elderly people and people with chronic health problems to exert caution, especially on Thursday and Friday.

Güven Özdemir, a meteorology expert from Istanbul Aydın University, said desert dust is quite common in Turkey during the spring. Özdemir said winds will carry the dust through Italy, Greece and Turkey and the dust would particularly hit the Aegean, the Marmara, the western Black Sea and the western Mediterranean regions.

He noted that the dust has minerals "as precious as gold" with many benefits. "When they fall on the land, they enrich the soil. When they fall into the sea, they increase sea minerals. In a way, they are natural fertilizers," he said. However, he warned people with chronic bronchitis and other illnesses to avoid going out on days of dust.