The sky across large parts of England has turned an eerie colour today.

Dubbed the 'hurricane sun', the bizarre glow has been caused by the tail-end of Hurricane Ophelia.

People in the south west and on the south coast reported seeing a blood red sky this morning.

Later on, the weird weather phenomenon spread further north towards Manchester and Liverpool, and across towards London. The colour of the sky gradually changed to orange and then yellow by mid-afternoon.

Dr Dave Reynolds from The Weather Channel explained why this has happened.

(Image: Liverpool Echo)

(Image: Getty Images Europe)

(Image: PA)

(Image: James Ide)

He said winds were strong over Iberia on Sunday, which has resulted in dust from there blown to the UK by the remnants of Hurricane Ophelia.

"Some of the dust may be particulates from the fires, although I think regular fine-grained dust would account for the majority," he said.

"This is a result of Ophelia to the west of Portugal (on Sunday) and high pressure over the western Mediterranean, although it doesn't necessarily need a hurricane to do this (a regular, north Atlantic low would be just as good - so long as all the other conditions are met).

"Furthermore, and importantly, the cold front of Ophelia moved across southern Britain this morning and was very weak - this meant there was not much rain to wash the dust out.

"The winds are still southerly, despite the cold front coming through.

(Image: WENN.com)

(Image: Getty Images Europe)

(Image: Getty Images Europe)

(Image: Andy Kyle / SWNS.com)

(Image: PA)

"Usually winds would veer and fresher Atlantic air would come in behind a cold front - but this won't happen until later to day."

He said as fresher air moves in later today, you can expect the colouration to gradually fade.

Met Office forecaster Grahame Madge said the former hurricane is pulling air and dust up from southern Europe and Africa.

"It's all connected with Ophelia, on the eastern side of the low pressure system air is coming up in the southern direction," he said.

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

"So 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.

(Image: Getty Images Europe)

(Image: Simon Galloway / SWNS.com)

Bristol bathed in red glow due to amazing 'hurricane sun'

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

Weather experts claim to also have "lots of reports" of a bizarre burning smell to accompany the unusual coloured sky, which looks like something from a Star Wars film.

The smell reaches as far as Redruth, Torrington, Ivybridge, Bere Alston, Bath and Plymouth.

Carol Roberts told the Plymouth Herald : “There is a hot plastic like smell in Mount Hawke. Wind really strong, cloud formations in many colours moving swiftly. We also had a very quick storm last night, thunder, lightning and a quick flash rainstorm. Glad I haven't got to go out today.”

(Image: Andy Kyle / SWNS.com)

Stormy Ophelia above Exeter

Leigh Rapson said: “[Can] definitely smell it in Plymouth too, light and sky very odd, streetlights going off then coming back on again! If I didn’t know better I’d say it was the apocalypse.”

Hayley-Jade Sylvia Matthews added: “Yes. The burning smell is quite strong here in St Budeaux. Such a strange sky. It's kinda freaky.”

The Met Office have been contacted about the smell and we are waiting for a comment.

Many people are reporting the strange colour of the sky in the city – which appears to be a hazy grey and yellow.

People have blamed the bizarre sky on dust and sands being blown across the sea from the Azores and to the UK.

The Met Office has also shed some light on the strange smell and colour of the sky, reports the Bristol Post .

They tweeted: "It's generally the low level sun hitting the layers of cloud. There may be a small amount of dust included in this."

(Image: Barcroft Media)

(Image: @KirstieMAllsopp/Twitter)

Parts of the country affected by the storm are currently experiencing unseasonably warm and dry weather, but many areas are being warned to expect gale force winds.

Dozens of flights have been cancelled and schools, nurseries, government buildings and courts have been closed as weather warnings of 80mph gales have been issued across Ireland, Northern Ireland and parts of Scotland.

The Met Office have issued an amber 'be prepared' warning for the strength of the winds in parts of Ireland and Northern Ireland, and a yellow weather warning for parts of south west England, Wales and the north-west of England.

Oli Claydon, Met Office spokesman said: "By the time we get into tomorrow evening, it will be a different picture altogether. Things will be a lot more settled."

(Image: PA)

(Image: Getty Images Europe)

Today, dozens of flights have been cancelled due to severe weather, and passengers are being advised to check the latest information before going to the airport.

Dublin-based Ryanair has cancelled more than 30 flights, while Aer Lingus, British Airways, Emirates and KLM are among the other airlines reporting cancellations. Nearly 100 flights to or from Dublin Airport have been grounded.

Businesses in Ireland have been urged to close for the day to keep their employees safe.

The tropical storm has made its way across the Atlantic and Ophelia's remnants are set to result in "exceptional" weather - exactly 30 years after the Great Storm of 1987 killed 18 people.

Hurricane Ophelia was first tracked nearly 900 miles off the coast of the Azores on October 9.

The US National Hurricane Centre issue an advisory after a tropical depression was found in the Atlantic.

At that point, the storm had not been named and was referred to as "Tropical Depression Seventeen", with winds of 35mph being recorded in its position 875 miles to the west of the Azores.

The depression strengthened into a tropical storm and is given the name Ophelia - the 15th named storm of the Atlantic hurricane season.