Storm Ophelia turns sky mellow yellow
Hinckley resembled sepia postcard
AN eerie glow covered Hinckley on Monday as Storm Ophelia blew in from the Atlantic.
Eyes were turning upwards to gaze at the dirty skudding clouds travelling across the grey-yellow expanse.
In Hinckley mutterings of “well the sky is a bit weird” could be heard among shoppers as leaves and debris blew in circles, gusted by the increasingly blustery wind.
Local photographer Amanda Littlewood captured the sun in the bizarre conditions from Coventry Road at around 11am.
The odd lighting lasted until around 4.30pm by which time the mellow yellow was replaced by bright sunshine and blue sky.
So just why was the sky such a strange colour?
It all began with dust from the Sahara and air from the forest fires of Spain and Portugal.
Strong winds from the south were blowing the desert dust and remnants from serious Iberian blazes northwards over the UK.
Particulates from the dust and fires scattered the sun’s light making the yellow and red parts of the spectrum, usually invisible to the naked eye, visible.
Forecaster Dave Reynolds, of The Weather Channel, said: “Winds were strong over Iberia on Sunday, which has resulted in dust blown to the UK on a strong south to southwesterly flow.
“This is a result of Ophelia positioned to the west of Portugal on Sunday and high pressure over the western Mediterranean.
“Furthermore, and importantly, the cold front of Ophelia moved across southern Britain this morning and was very weak - this meant there was not much rain to wash the dust out.
“Usually winds would veer away and fresher, clearer Atlantic air would come in behind a cold front.
“As fresher air moves in, expect the colouration to gradually fade.”
The storm moved across to Wales, northern England and Scotland throughout Monday causing some disruption on the roads.
In the East Midlands strong winds were experienced, while a yellow warning remained in place for much of Wales, Scotland, north east England, north west England, south west England and the West Midlands throughout Monday.
According to reports three people were killed in Eire due to Storm Ophelia.
Schools and government buildings were closed in Eire and Northern Ireland and train services cancelled after a red weather alert was issued. Many places suffered power outages.
The storm apparently stopped set building for the filming of Game of Thrones and delayed the Superman prequel Krypton which were being shot in Northern Ireland.