Explainer
Weather presenter Des Coleman answers your questions about the Saharan dust storms turning skies red
There was some talk this week about Saharan dust in the atmosphere, and social media is awash with images of red skies and dramatic sunsets.
But what is it? And should we be concerned?
The answer to the first question is simple - read the title of this piece: Saharan dust is dustfrom the Sahara desert.
As to the second question, I'll explain a little more.
Why is Saharan dust in the air? Well you have to back to Storm Celia, so named by the Portuguese Met service a few days ago. The same strong winds which led to flights being cancelled over the Canary Islands also drew up Sahara dust into the air.
That dust was suspended in the air by updraughts, helping to scatter the light and sending wavelengths off in different directions.
This helped create beautiful skies, with kaleidoscopic colours, and vibrant sunrises and sunsets.
Having said that, if it rains, any dust captured in rain drops is drawn out of the cloud, crashes down to earth, and smears whatever it contacts with a fine layer of grimy sand.
So, whilst the dust is great to look at when airborne it’s a devil to clean up once it hits the ground. If you where thinking it was heading in our direction, you’d be right - the operative word being 'was' as it’s now breaking up and heading elsewhere.
To conclude: the down side of Saharan dust are mucky cars and window sills, disaster for newly painted fences with the paint still wet and the odd itch in the eye, whilst the upside - a purely visual one I might add - are magnificent, well articulated coloured sunsets and skies that make you wonder about the meaning of life.
Oh yes, I forgot. Its also great for adding much needed minerals to rivers. (So not purely visual after all!)
What do you think? Have we missed a sight for sore eyes or been spared the clean up? What are your thoughts?
PS: Sahara means desert in Arabic so when you say ‘The Sahara Desert’ you're actually saying ‘The desert desert'.