It's difficult to be excited about hot weather without feeling like a minor character in Don't Look Up who isn't taking the big looming asteroid seriously. It's even more difficult when a heatwave is to be followed by something as apocalyptic-sounding as "blood rain".
Well, good news UK, because you're about to be hit by both. After a heatwave that will see temperatures rise to the highest seen this year, blood rain could hit the country on Friday.
Blood rain is red-colored, caused by relatively high concentrations of red dust or particles mixed in with the water. According to the Met Office, "blood rain" is a colloquial term and "is not actually a meteorological or scientific term."
It is not seen often in the UK, but every now and then dust can be carried to the island. In this case, the blood rain (should rain coincide with the storm passing over the UK) will be caused by a plume of dust from the Sahara, after making its way across the Mediterranean. It is expected to arrive on Friday morning.
"Aerosol forecasts from the Copernicus Atmosphere Monitoring Service (CAMS) observed another large plume of Saharan dust moving west across the Atlantic between 12-17 May and heading towards the Caribbean," CAMS said in a statement.
"According to the forecast, the plume will also reach western Europe on 20 and 21 May. CAMS data monitor the dust transport every year and throughout all stages, while also noting that this year has shown, and continues to show, high levels of dust transport across the Mediterranean and parts of Europe."
If it doesn't rain, the UK – and the Carribean, should the storm also make it across the Atlantic – may still see unusually red skies.
"Most of the dust transport is likely to be at higher altitudes which could lead to hazy skies rather than impacts on surface air quality," Senior Scientist for the European Space Agency's Copernicus Atmosphere Monitoring Service Mark Parrington told Mail Online. "It may also be mixed with some rain, which is also forecast for Friday, so there could be surface deposits on cars after the rain has cleared."
