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The Independent UK
The Independent UK
National
Rachael Burnett

Red sun spotted in sky over UK as Storm Ophelia whips up dust from Sahara

A red sun spotted in the sky over parts of England has been caused by Storm Ophelia.

The unusual occurrence was seen in the south west during the middle of Monday morning, with a number of people sharing photos and video online of the phenomenon.

Red sun over Lytham (Dawn Mander/Twitter)

Sharon Derrick shared a video of the sun over Bristol and said: "Bristol looks like the film The Red Planet... the weather is bizarre."

Met Office forecaster Grahame Madge said the former hurricane is pulling air and dust up from southern Europe and Africa.

"It's all connected with Ophelia, on the eastern side of the low pressure system air is coming up in the southern direction," he said.

"Air is being pulled from southern Europe and Africa and that air contains a lot of dust.

"So it's most likely the appearance of sunset at midday is caused by the particles scattering the light and giving the appearance of a red sun.

Red sun Mid-Wales before storm Ophelia hits (Paul Williams / Alamy Live News)

"It's certainly spectacular at the moment and quite a talking point, we've had a lot of calls about it."

Press Association

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