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Why wildfires are turning skies a sinister orange
https://www.cnet.com/news/why-wildfires-are-turning-skies-into-a-sinister-orange/
Blue skies. Gray skies. Those are the colors we most commonly associate with our atmosphere. On Wednesday, things went wonky for the San Francisco Bay Area when the skies turned a freaky, disorienting shade of orange that made morning and afternoon seem like night.
The disturbing color shift was due to a plague of ongoing wildfires in California. Residents have been sharing photos on social media that look like they could have been taken on the set of Blade Runner 2049.
While it looked like the apocalypse had arrived, the National Weather Service offered a scientific explanation for the phenomenon. The NWS Bay Area office tweeted a satellite image of a thick layer of smoke over California and wrote, "This smoke is filtering the incoming energy from the sun, causing much cooler temperatures and dark, dreary red-shifted skies across many areas."
NASA went into more detail on this type of occurrence while explaining red-tinted sunsets triggered by Siberian fires back in 2015. "The smoke particles from the fires allow sunlight's longer wavelength colors like red and orange to get through while blocking the shorter wavelengths of yellow, blue and green," the space agency said.
Blue skies. Gray skies. Those are the colors we most commonly associate with our atmosphere. On Wednesday, things went wonky for the San Francisco Bay Area when the skies turned a freaky, disorienting shade of orange that made morning and afternoon seem like night.
The disturbing color shift was due to a plague of ongoing wildfires in California. Residents have been sharing photos on social media that look like they could have been taken on the set of Blade Runner 2049.
While it looked like the apocalypse had arrived, the National Weather Service offered a scientific explanation for the phenomenon. The NWS Bay Area office tweeted a satellite image of a thick layer of smoke over California and wrote, "This smoke is filtering the incoming energy from the sun, causing much cooler temperatures and dark, dreary red-shifted skies across many areas."
Link to tweet
NASA went into more detail on this type of occurrence while explaining red-tinted sunsets triggered by Siberian fires back in 2015. "The smoke particles from the fires allow sunlight's longer wavelength colors like red and orange to get through while blocking the shorter wavelengths of yellow, blue and green," the space agency said.
Link to tweet
Wildfires happen every year out west but it feels extra apocalyptic in 2020. It's that kind of year. People have been cracking their teeth with anxiety.
More photos at link
6 replies
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