Storm Ophelia turns the sun red
- Published
It's been a busy Monday morning at the BBC Weather Centre.
It's the 30th anniversary of the Great Storm which devastated parts of southern England, Storm Ophelia is bringing damaging winds to Ireland, western coasts and Scotland, and to top it off lots of you are sending in pictures of a red sun.
Spectacular red sun captured in Sandbach, Cheshire East
And the question is … why has the sun and sky turned red?
Red above the rooftops in Lowestoft, Suffolk. Photo by Charlie
We think the answer is a combination of smoke from the wildfires across Spain and Portugal and also some Saharan dust drawn up on the southerly winds associated with Ophelia.
The dust has caused the shorter wavelength light (blue, violet etc) to be scattered away, leaving the longer wavelength light (red/orange).
Alison photographed this stunning scene in Leatherhead, Surrey
Ophelia originated in the Atlantic where it was a hurricane and as it tracked its way northwards it dragged in tropical air from the Sahara.
At noon in Mark, Somerset, the "sun [was] blood red and [the sky] dark as dusk"
The dust gets picked up into the air and goes high up into the atmosphere and it is now above the UK.
This incredible photo was taken by treehacker in Tamworth, Staffordshire