Viral video: What's the reason behind Chhattisgarh sky turning fiery red?

Videos showing the sky turning blood red in parts of Chhattisgarh has caught everyone’s attention and gone viral. The clips are coming largely from Dantewada and Kirandul where people are claiming that the unusual colour of the sky comes amid severe weather alerts triggered by Cyclone Arnab. Though, there are no verified information so far to link the cyclone to the bright red colour of sky in Chhattisgarh.

However, similar scenes have appeared in Australia and other parts of the world ahead of a cyclone's landfall. According to experts, several factors like dust, sand or iron-rich red soil suspended high in the atmosphere due to strong wind speeds can lead to the sky looking red sometimes. This exactly seems to be the case in Chhattisgarh where some parts reported strong winds reach speeds of 60–80 kmph, with gusts touching 90 kmph.

Cyclone Arnab began its landfall process early Wednesday (Oct 28) along the Andhra Pradesh and Yanam coasts, bringing torrential downpours to the region. The cyclone, as per an IMD alert maintained a core intensity of 125 to 135 kmph, gusting up to 150 kmph.

Its effects are expected to persist through October 31. Elaborate arrangements have been made by Andhra Pradesh, Odisha, Madhya Pradesh and Bihar governments to deal with any kind of eventuality.

In Odisha, the IMD has issued severe weather warnings, predicting heavy to very heavy rainfall at a few places with extremely heavy rainfall at one or two locations over the districts of Gajapati, Ganjam, Rayagada, Koraput, Nawarangpur, and Malkangiri. These areas are also very likely to experience thunderstorms accompanied by lightning and gusty surface winds reaching 60 to 80 kmph, gusting to 90 kmph.