A Saharan dust cloud sweeping over parts of the UK has turned London’s sky orange on Wednesday.
Social media was awash with dramatic photographs of the skies above the capital.
Many Londoners debated what colour hue it was - with everything from red to yellow, green and sepia being thrown into the mix.
Among the comments, one person said: “Anyone notice the sky over London is a weird yellow sepia colour?! what is happening?”
The sky has turned a very strange dusky orange color in Central London, apparently we’re getting a #SaharanDust plume today. #SaharanPlume pic.twitter.com/o0aVaOs4LI
— Neil A.Evans (@NeilEvansRocks) March 16, 2022
Another posted: “There is a really horrible coloured sky in West London this morning. Everything has a slight green tinge about it… Disconcerting.”
Explaining why the sky turns colour, Met Office forecaster Richard Miles said: “The orange effect is caused by the Rayleigh scattering, which is the same effect that gives you the blue sky.
Anyone else in London seeing the colour of the sky? Kind of pale orange and feels a bit post apocalyptic
— Vivian Holmes (@vivianholmesphd) March 16, 2022
“The additional dust will scatter the blue light and create more red light effects which gives sunsets their distinctive colour.
“So the more layers of dust in the atmosphere the right conditions will give you orange and red tints to the sky.”
Has that weird Saharan dust thing made its way to London? The sky is weird and my car is covered in dust that wasn't there last night 😅
— Sean M. Tracey (@seanmtracey) March 16, 2022
He said the Saharan dust cloud was due to a storm system near Spain.
However, Mr Miles said there was no disruption expected as there was no “significant quantities” of dust to affect air quality.
“It will only be the effects that you see in the sky,” he said.
But he warned people may find some dust particles on their car windscreens.
Earlier on Wednesday, atmospheric scientist Dr Claire Ryder revealed which parts of the UK the Saharan dust cloud would sweep over.
“The plume is forecast to reach southern England during the early hours of Wednesday, covering areas from Dorset to Suffolk, with the southeast counties, particularly Kent, being the worst affected.” She said.
“People are likely to see surfaces such as cars getting dusty and red, and air quality may be slightly lower than usual due to the dust particles in the air.”
“The dust has been transported more than 1,500 miles to the UK from Algeria and Morocco over the last two days, driven by strong winds from Storm Celia, named by the Spanish Meteorological Agency.”
Mr Miles said there would not be an orange sunset because of damp conditions predicted later on Wednesday.
