United Kingdom’s metrological department shared radar imagery showing ants flying over the southeast part of the country.
“It’s not raining in London, Kent or Sussex, but our radar says otherwise,” it said in a tweet on Friday.
It’s not raining in London, Kent or Sussex, but our radar says otherwise…📡
The radar is actually picking up a swarm of #flyingants across the southeast 🐜
During the summer ants can take to the skies in a mass emergence usually on warm, humid and windless days #flyingantday pic.twitter.com/aMF6RxR943
— Met Office (@metoffice) July 17, 2020
It looked like rain on the radar, but a meteorologist with the country’s weather agency said it was “dry, hot and sunny” at the time.
The swarm was visible on radar for about two hours on Friday morning.
The forecasters’ satellites didn’t show enough clouds to produce rain in the area, she said.
They suspected insects because the particles didn’t look like raindrops and were longer than they are wide — like a bug.
There were also reports along the eastern part of the country that did not show up on radar, she said.
The ants’ have become a summer tradition in Britain and many people call their annual appearance Flying Ant Day.
The phenomenon occurs when young queen ants, followed by males, leave their nests to breed and start new colonies. The weather conditions have to be just right, which is why so many ants choose to take off at the same time, according to the Royal Society of Biology (RSB).