Red sky at night but where's the shepherd's delight? Flood alerts as storms follow stunning sunset over London

By JOANNA CORRIGAN

A stunning pink and orange sunset over Tower Bridge in London on Monday night

It was most definitely a red sky at night but the shepherd's delight that is supposed to follow has been sadly lacking.

London was lit up by a stunning sunset on Monday, which saw Tower Bridge and much of the city bathed in a red and orange glow.

But instead of the clear start expected hours later, the capital and a large swathe of England from the North-East to the South-East was dismal and grey as rain moved in.


The sky above the capital on Monday evening was lit up with pinks and purples


Red clouds are produced when the sun dips in the sky and starts to shine underneath them. When the Sun is low in the sky, light has to travel further across the Earth's atmosphere.

The shorter light waves that make up blue and green colours therefore do not make it to earth, compared to orange and red which have longer wavelengths and can travel that far.

These are therefore the colours we see in the sky.

But after the beautiful sunset, the following dawn was dismal with parts of Britain on the alert for heavy rain and flooding.

The Met Office has put out two weather warnings covering London and the South-East and the East of England because of a low pressure system moving in from Europe.

Forecasters warned of the possibility of localised flooding, although there was some relief that the heaviest rain appeared to be keeping offshore, over the North Sea.


source: dailymail