Particles of dust from major wildfires in Canadian are affecting the air quality in Wales on Friday. Sharing a picture of the sunrise over Haverfordwest BBC weather forecaster Matt Taylor said the "reddish hue" was an indicator of the air quality.
On Friday morning he said: "There is a slightly reddish hue in the sky this morning which is an indication that air quality is not particularly great across the UK right now. It will improve slowly over the weekend. There is also a tiny bit of wildfire dust all the way from North America that is in the sky in western parts this morning." The Met Office says that a red sky appears when dust and small particles are trapped in the atmosphere by high pressure.
Smoke-filled skies have been seen across parts of North America as Canadian wildfires raged and winds brought the airborne pollution south and triggered fears over risks to health. The situation in the UK is set to improve over the weekend with a change on the way. Temperatures are set to remain above average for the time of year but there is some rain coming.
The Met Office said for the vast majority of the UK Friday will see more dry and sunny conditions with temperatures widely into the mid-20s Celsius, possibly peaking around 28°C . From Friday afternoon the hint of an upcoming change in weather type is likely to affect western parts of Northern Ireland at first with thundery showers likely and a possibility of some heavy bursts of rain seeing around 25mm of rain possibly falling within an hour in some spots.
They say: "Whilst there is a chance of this risk extending into parts of Wales and perhaps the southwest of England on Friday afternoon the majority of these places will remain dry, though cloudier than recently. The risk of more showers and perhaps some thunder does increase in these areas overnight and into Saturday however. There is then a trend to more showers and thunderstorms through the weekend."
Met Office deputy chief meteorologist Steven Keates added: “Over the coming days we’ll be transitioning to a more unsettled regime for the UK though temperatures will remain high and it’ll feel very humid for many. Heavy showers and thunderstorms are likely to become more frequent through the weekend with the potential for associated hail, lightning, and some gusty winds. While the focus of thundery showers on Friday afternoon will be Northern Ireland that risk spreads more widely across western and southern areas of the UK on Saturday before pushing further north on Sunday. As in many of these situations these showers can be hit or miss with some places avoiding them whilst other areas nearby may see some very wet conditions. There’s an ongoing likelihood of warnings being issued in the coming days so keep an eye on the weather forecast for the latest outlook.”
Though details are still being determined on the positioning of the heaviest thundery downpours in excess of 40mm could fall in some places in a relatively short period of time on Saturday and Sunday. The most likely exception to the unsettled shift in the weather is northeast parts of Scotland, which will hold on to the dry weather the longest.
Despite the shift to more thundery conditions a plume of warm air is still influencing the UK weather, with temperatures through the weekend likely to remain in the mid-to-high 20°C range for some.
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