National & International

Billions of flying ants picked up on weather radar as ‘rain’

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Swarms of flying ants have been picked up on the Met Office’s weather forecast maps.

According to The Express, the groups of flying insects were so large that the weather radar showed rain across the South of England on 17 July.

Simon King, a BBC meteorologist said the ants were large enough and flying at such a height that they were picked up by radar systems. Mr King said: “We knew it was dry in the south of England, and yet the radar was showing this very light precipitation across the south.

Mr King posted the radar image on Twitter

“You can tell it’s not rainfall because it has that eerie look to it. It doesn’t quite match what rainfall looks like.”

The billions of ants were spotted across the Southern coast, from Hampshire to East Sussex. This mass movement is said to be caused by female queen ants and male ants embarking on a mating flight.

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