Sahara dust moving across Europe has hit the UK, leaving the sky orange over southern parts of the country, meteorologists said.
Saturday is expected to be the warmest day of the year so far, with temperatures at 18C in some areas.
The dust cloud, which is about 2 km above ground level, hit Sussex, Kent and London on Wednesday afternoon. The overall impact is “unlikely” to be significant, forecasts said, but people in the affected areas could see a “red or orange tint” in the sky.
Met Office meteorologist Dan Stroud explained that the colors were caused by a phenomenon known as rayleigh scattering of additional particles in the air. “The dust in the atmosphere causes the light to refract more, so you get the dominance of the red and orange tones of the spectrum,” he said.
It comes as a plum, which in other countries is called Storm Celia, travels across Europe from the Sahara, covering parts of southern Spain and France.
Stroud said the dust is likely to be washed out of the air by an area of clouds and rain that will push east across the Westland on Wednesday evening.
But high-pressure construction behind the wet weather over the weekend may have affected southern areas of England with a warm spring Saturday.
“We will probably see some very pleasant spring suns, especially for the London and South East region, over the course of Saturday,” Stroud said. “We are looking at temperatures of up to 16, 17, and maybe even a rounded 18C could be possible.”
The rain in England will start later on Wednesday as many regions become cold, with liquid frost and some rural fog, the Met Office said.
On Thursday it will be overcast with light rain for a while. Showers, frost and fog will continue until Friday in some parts of the UK.
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