Most of us have used the saying before, but does a red sky at night really mean shepherd's delight?

According to the Met Office, this saying is most reliable when weather systems mainly come in from the west like ours in the UK.

A red sky appears when dust and small particles are trapped in the atmosphere by high pressure. The dust and particles scatter blue light, which leaves only red light. So when there's a cracking sunset, this is because there's high atmospheric pressure moving in from the west. When this happens, it means that the next day will usually be dry and pleasant.

The reverse of this saying, "Red sky in the morning, shepherds warning" means a red sky appears due to the high-pressure weather system having already moved east. This means that the good weather has passed, and will be most likely making way for a wet and windy low-pressure system.

So our advice is, shepherds, carry on keeping your eye on those skies.