“Red sky at night, Sailor’s/Shepherd’s Delight” and “Red sky in morning, Sailor’s/Shepherd’s Warning” are expressions that many of us grew up with, but neither will be correct when the sun sets this evening and then rises tomorrow to a backdrop of red skies.
According to DR Vejret meteorologist Søren Jacobsen, the red skies will be the result of desert dust and sand travelling across Europe all the way from the Sahara Desert – a fairly regular occurrence that has happened “a few times” over the last decade.
The next Caribbean? In 50 million years!
“It is the sand that affects the light from the sun, because it captures the sun’s rays, and then there is a filtering of colours, so it is the strong red shades we see most clearly,” explained Jacobsen..
“Sand and dust can travel long distances in the atmosphere, as the wind acts as a long conveyor belt. In fact, it was also sand from the Sahara that created all the sandy beaches in the Caribbean.”
Too late for blood snow!
As of this morning, the dust cloud was travelling across France. In Alpine regions, it is known to colour the snow red – a phenomenon known as blood snow.
At around 19:00, it will arrive in Denmark, which might be a little late to enhance today’s sunset, leaving tomorrow’s sunrise as our best chance of enjoying the spectacle – preferably looking out over the Baltic Sea or, even better, from Bornholm.
The Sahara woz here
Should you miss it, there’s a good chance some residue will be left from the cloud on your car windscreen.
So more like “Red sky in morning, Motorist’s Warning”.
