Hurricane Ophelia, Spain forest fires turns sun fireball orange in Netherlands skies
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."
De zon is oranjerood ❤️❤️ pic.twitter.com/U0bnOuMKaz
— Ebru Umar (@umarebru) October 17, 2017
https://twitter.com/Queenfransje/status/920206523749543936
Onbewolkt, oranje zon geeft vreemd licht. Goed filter, maar is het nou Saharazand of rook uit Portugal/Spanje? pic.twitter.com/j7s0QjPME6
— Joke van Wijngaarden (@jokevw62) October 17, 2017
https://twitter.com/Nepareizais/status/920038154538749953
#Ophelia gave us the eerie #redsun yesterday but when it came to sunset, the effect of Saharan dust/fire smoke is even more pronounced... pic.twitter.com/IhAH7oBQsl
— Simon King (@SimonOKing) October 17, 2017
Surreal red sky in London as Ophelia whips up dust from the Sahara.
— ian bremmer (@ianbremmer) October 16, 2017
(ht @iihtishamm) pic.twitter.com/abNeuJqfKj