As the northern hemisphere greets the first day of spring (Japan declares this day a public holiday), here in the UAE, we got nothing but sand, sand and more sand. Dust, too.

Strong winds kicked up dust and sand and reduced visibility all over the country.

It’s bad enough that there is really no season of “spring”, no tulips springing on sidewalks and beautiful cherry blossoms, then we got this nasty sandstorm upon us for the past four days.

When looking out from our apartment balcony, we normally see this:

For the past few days, the buildings are a no-show:

NASA satellite capture the thick dust/sand hovering our skies:

A bit apocalyptic, hey. How’s spring from where you are?