The Colors in the Sky

Why does the sky change colors at sunset and sunrise? The sky changes colors for many reasons, from the simple which is the light from the sun being refracted from the atmosphere, or for the not so simple which is something such as dust or ice acting as microscopic crystals in the sky. Let’s start with the simple answer.

Every evening as the sun is setting the sky is painted red, pink and dark orange streaks on a blue background, this is caused by the atmosphere being more dense at the horizons, therefore the light from the sun has to travel through more air particles which only allow the longer wavelengths of light through those particles. Those longer wavelengths of light are on the red side of the color spectrum, which is why at sunrise and sunset the sky is colored with these fantastic colors of pink, orange, red and the blue behind it is at a darker color because it is at the opposite side of the color spectrum as blue light is extremely fast and small so it cannot get through the thick atmosphere.

This complex and incredible phenomenon happens everyday twice a day with sunrise and sunset. Now these colors can be changed by minuscule particles in the lower atmosphere as well. A few months ago we had a large amount of Saharan dust come over us and we had beautiful bright and blended sunsets because of it. The way this is happening is from the dust getting in the way for the light and either allowing the light through it or acting as a microscopic crystal and changing the color of the light coming through it.

This is the same phenomenon as with ice in the atmosphere except doubled as most if not all of the ice that is in the way of the sun becomes a crystal and it brightens up the light of the sun and sometimes makes it twinkle as the light comes through the atmosphere.

This column was suggested by a reader. If you have any questions about weather-related phenomena, please send them to tomy3290@gmail.com.

Now onto our local forecast. This week will be a sweaty one as we have reached August in Texas with the average high being 100 degrees for the week with no chance of precipitation for the week with only a light breeze from the south, southeast being our only saving grace from the heat. There are no astronomical events to report on this week.

Thomas Borgstedte Jr. of La Grange is a meteorology student at Texas A&M.