Source: BBC News

The red rain is a rare weather phenomenon, and gets its blood-like colour thanks to sand or dirt which is picked up from the desert by the wind, it then falls in the rain when showers happen.

The Met Office says that people all over the UK will see more “blood rain” fall from the skies as a result of the record-breaking Easter weekend heatwave.

Across the country there have already been reports of the weird rain, as people have seen their cars and homes soaked by the blood rain and left with a covering of red dust.

The French areas of Brittany and Normandy have been placed on “orange” alert for pollution, due to a combination of the Saharan desert dust and local car emissions.

What is Saharan Dust?

Wind blows strongly over the Sahara desert in Africa – whipping up dust and sand high into the sky. If the winds are blowing north, the dust can be carried as far as the UK.

In order for the dust to get from up in the sky down to the ground, you need rain.

As raindrops fall, they collect particles of dust on the way down. Then when the raindrops land on something and eventually evaporate, they leave behind a layer of dust.

Finding Saharan dust in the UK is relatively common, often happening several times a year when there are big dust storms in the Sahara desert. In certain weather situations, Saharan dust can also affect air pollution and pollution levels.