‘The sky is on fire’: Stunning sunrise in London and Essex draws admirers as cause of intense red colour is revealed

• Red light lit up the sky today with unseasonably high temperatures to come 

A fiery red sunrise has been spotted over Essex and London this morning as locals rushed to social media to admire the ‘stunning’ spectacle as the reason behind its red hue is revealed.

Photos from across Essex showed a deep red start to the day with residents saying it looked as if ‘the sky is on fire’.

It comes amid recent downpours across the UK that have seen 127 flood alerts still in force, ahead of an unseasonably warm weekend which could see temperatures soar up to 14C.

In 32 areas the Environment Agency has issued flood warnings, meaning flooding is expected, with the largest number being on the south coast of England and the West Midlands.

But the skyline on Thursday morning told a different story as people across the southeast stopped to admire the ‘gorgeous’ view.

Photos from across Essex showed a deep red start to the day with residents saying it looked as if ‘the sky is on fire’

The red skies were also seen in London at popular tourist sites such as Tower Bridge

Sunrises and sunsets have a red tinge because the sun is very low in the sky, meaning the light has travelled through a much thicker atmosphere and has further to travel.

Light that looks white is actually made up of many different colours of differing wavelengths, with red light having the shortest. 

As blue light has the longest wavelengths, it gets scattered by the particles in the atmosphere more strongly, meaning when it has further to travel it is deflected in other directions before reaching human eyes.

Sunrises therefore appear red and yellow in hue due to the blue light not being present. 

A spokesperson for the Met Office told MailOnline that red skies can be more intense ‘when dust and small particles are trapped in the atmosphere by high pressure’.

‘This scatters more blue light leaving only red light to give the sky its notable appearance. 

‘This is why things like Saharan dust or wildfire smoke can sometimes lead to more colourful sunsets as there are more particles in the atmosphere to scatter the blue light.’

But today’s colour is more likely to be a result of high cloud moving in from the west, the Met Office says.

London’s Tower Bridge stands silhouetted against the golden morning sky, marking the start of a new day in the city on December 14

Social media users called the red sunrise ‘amazing’ and ‘gorgeous’

A glorious sunrise was seen as far north as Sunderland at Sunderland beach

There are currently 32 flood warnings and 127 flood alerts in place across England

A particularly red sky can be a sign of weather systems on the way, and this cloud caused some rain across England this morning. 

READ MORE: The engine’s flooded! Driver has to be rescued from the roof of his Mini with 200 areas still on flood alert after heavy rain

Commenting on this morning’s sunrise, social media users declared: ‘The sky is on fire’.

Others said the scenes were ‘stunning’, ‘absolutely gorgeous’ and ‘very magical’.

It was a far cry from the rest of the weather picture after motorists had to be rescued from their cars in Essex on Wednesday due to heavy flooding. 

In Abbey Wood, south-east London, other motorists were forced to evacuate the roads with four fire engines and 25 firefighters frantically trying to clear standing water from the road.

Today saw a cloudy start for eastern areas with cloud lingering for the far south and east for much of the day.

Sunny spells are developing widely further north and west with long sunny spells and some showers for western Scotland with a gusty, westerly breeze.

High pressure is now building and will bring unseasonable highs of 14C (57F) this weekend. 

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