Hurricane Ophelia, Spain forest fires turns sun fireball orange in Netherlands skies

By Janene Pieters on October 17, 2017 - 13:20
Hurricane Ophelia in Ireland, forest fires in Spain and Portugal turn the sun red-orange in the Netherlands, 17 Oct 2017
Hurricane Ophelia in Ireland, forest fires in Spain and Portugal turn the sun red-orange in the Netherlands, 17 Oct 2017. Photo: @Queenfransje / Twitter

Two devastating natural phenomena in Ireland, Spain and Portugal had a beautiful effect on the Netherlands. The effects of Hurricane Ophelia over Ireland and the forest fires in Spain and Portugal, turned the morning sun in the Netherlands into a beautiful fireball red-orange on Tuesday.

The strong southern flow that accompanies Ophelia, brought considerable amounts of Saharan dust with it. "If you combine that wit the huge amount of soot and dust particles released b the fierce forest fires in Portugal and Spain, you get wat we see now. A red-orange sun that looks more like te moon", meteorologist Raymond Klaassen explains on Weerplaza. 

Klaassen emphasizes that the phenomenon is not dangerous. "When it rains, there's a mess on the cars. Other than that, we won't suffer from it."

The phenomenon was even more noticeable in France and Britain on Monday. The sky above London shone in full yellow. And in the west of France, the street lights had to be put on during the day, because too little light came through the dust particles in the atmosphere. 

According to Klaassen, Dutch can enjoy the beautifully colored sun for the rest of Tuesday, but it's not likely that the effects will last till tomorrow. "Ophelia moved to the north and in Portugal it's raining. This reduces the effect. I think it'll be largely over tomorrow."

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