The sun was soon hidden behind thick clouds bathing everything into an eerie yellow light reminiscent of a lunar eclipse. 

For two hours from around noon it grew increasingly darker with the sky taking on an apocalyptic hue, as motorists turned on their headlights to be seen. 

 According to the Met Office, the red sun was caused by winds pulling up Saharan dust from Africa. This dust was then reflected and refracted in longer wavelengths, giving a red appearance to the sky.

The unusual occurrence was seen in areas including the midlands and south west on Monday, with a number of people sharing photos and video online of the phenomenon.

Sharon Derrick shared a video of the sun over Bristol and said: "Bristol looks like the film The Red Planet... the weather is bizarre."

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.

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