Last of Hurricane Ophelia to hit Aberdeen tonight

Storm Ophelia hit the Southern coast of Ireland this morning and has been moving North ever since, with the South of Ireland getting the worst of the weather.

The storm has taken the lives of two people already in Ireland and has produced gusts of wind as strong as 109 miles per hour, cancelling the majority of plane, train and bus services.

It is predicted that the effects of the storm will reach Aberdeen at around 10pm tonight – but have you looked outside today? It was only 2.30pm when it got dark.

The sun isn’t supposed to set for another 3 hours but thanks to dust from Africa, and the wildfires in Portugal and Spain, the skies above Aberdeen are darker than usual for this time of year.

Aberdeen is grey and bleak on a day to day basis anyway, but even these skies look super weird.

Picture credit to Claire Simms

Met Office forecaster Grahame Madge said: “It’s all connected with Ophelia, on the eastern side of the low pressure system air is coming up in the southern direction.

“Air is being pulled from southern Europe and Africa and that air contains a lot of dust.

“It’s most likely the appearance of sunset at midday is caused by the particles scattering the light and giving the appearance of a red sun.

“It’s certainly spectacular at the moment and quite a talking point, we’ve had a lot of calls about it.”