There is no danger of polluting cloud from Ukraine reaching Romania

At present, there is no such danger the polluting cloud from Ukraine will reach the Romanian sky, the head of the National Meteorological Authority (ANM), Elena Mateescu, told a press conference on Tuesday, Agerpres reports.

"[The cloud over Ukraine - editor's note] exists and we are in a situation of anti-cyclonic field centered precisely on the Ukrainian area, which may mean that the upward, transverse movements of wind intensifications, determine the source of pollutants to stay in the area where they were produced. We are closely monitoring the situation, at the moment there is no such danger [for the cloud in Ukraine to reach Romanian sky - editor's note] and, definitely, 24 hours a day we will transmit the data in the operational flow and inform the decision makers and the press. The information are also available on the ANM website, on the Facebook page, we update the information every 6 hours, precisely to have the latest information available," said Elena Mateescu.

Head of the ANM specified that there is no connection between the polluting cloud in Ukraine and the meteorological conditions that may have favored its trip to Romania.

"Regarding the concentrations of carbon monoxide and suspended pollutants, PM 10 and PM 2.5, taking into account what news has been circulating today, we can confirm, based on the information from the Copernicus atmosphere monitoring service, based on which the National Meteorological Authority runs and interprets the data in Romania, at this time there is no link between what is happening in Ukraine from this perspective and the weather conditions that could have favored the movement of the polluting cloud, and I mean now the carbon monoxide, in which we record very low levels. As for the suspended particles matter, PM 10 and PM 2.5, let's not forget that today, until 8:00 pm, we are still under a Code Yellow alert, with strong winds, especially in the Dobrogea area, where we also had local speeds that exceeded 60-65 kilometres per hour, and could have raised indeed suspended dust particles. Let's not forget that we have a phenomenon of extreme pedological drought in the eastern and south-eastern part of the country," mentioned Elena Mateescu.