The Know Daily - Monday 5 February 2024

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An “edible meadow” designed to improve gut health is set to feature at this year’s Chelsea Flower Show. The gardeners behind the “microbiome” garden (illustrated 👇) said it would be filled with flowers that can enhance gut health - and that they hoped it would inspire visitors to do something similar with their own gardens.

🌧️ Every cloud…

A Saharan dust cloud is expected to affect parts of the UK this week, bringing “blood rain” with it. But is the natural phenomenon really as dramatic as it sounds?

First things first - “blood rain”?!
Blood rain - which, as the Met Office has pointed out, is not actually a meteorological or scientific term - occurs when high concentrations of red-coloured dust combine with rain. 

The dust in question comes from the Sahara, and it typically drifts towards the UK several times each year. Following recent dust storms in North Africa, the phenomenon is expected to hit parts of the UK again this week.

So will it be raining red?
Almost certainly not. Proper blood rain - where water droplets actually appear red -  is “relatively rare”, said the Met Office, as it requires high concentrations of red dust particles in the rain. “We rarely if ever see ‘proper’ blood rain here in the UK, despite what the media headlines may suggest,” the Met Office added.

So what can we expect?
Given that the dust in the UK tends to be mixed in very low concentrations, the rain will probably look just the same as usual. 

Nevertheless, if you’re planning on drying your laundry outside or washing your car this week, “you might want to wait a bit longer”, cautioned Yahoo News, as the rain tends to leave a film of dust once evaporated. 

On the plus side, the red dust in the atmosphere “could mean some colourful sunsets”, said BBC Newsround - as this picture 👇 from 2017 shows.