Large parts of the provinces of East and West Flanders were bathed in a pink glow on Monday evening, several photos posted to social media show. While this is a familiar phenomenon in the area, the glow was a lot more extreme this time than usual.
The sky in the region in the west of Flanders regularly turns pink due to the reflection of light from large tomato greenhouses in the municipality of Kruisem in the East-Flanders province.
They use red and blue LED lamps: the red ones make the plants grow better, the blue ones keep them compact. The result is a pink glow.
The phenomenon has been known in the region for some time, although it was an extreme edition on Monday night, VRT weather reporter Frank Deboosere told Het Nieuwsblad. "A result of low-hanging clouds, on which that light was reflected. Just as you often see a white glow around large cities from a distance. So actually, it is a kind of air pollution."
