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Post by wvengineer on Jul 15, 2015 2:05:36 GMT
Okay, there the very old saying "Red sky at morning, sailor takes warning. Red sky at night, Sailor's delight." When I lived in Utah, it held true. However when I moved to the east coast, Red sky at morning, means good weather. So what actually causes it?
Additionally, what would cause a yellow sky? Tonight the sky was almost crayon yellow. The picture doesn't do it justice. And, no, there are no wild fires nearby. It has been a very wet spring and summer and it even had heavy rain earlier this evening.
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Post by the light works on Jul 15, 2015 2:13:32 GMT
the reg sky legend refers to areas where the prevailing weather patterns come from the east. cloud cover to the east will make a red sunrise - and will migrate over you during the day. cloud cover to the west makes a red sunset - and is going away.
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Post by OziRiS on Jul 16, 2015 0:14:41 GMT
The color of a sunrise or sunset is all down to what and how much of it is in the air between you and the sun and how that stuff scatters (or doesn't scatter) the different wavelengths of the spectrum.
The molecules in our atmosphere (mainly nitrogen and oxygen) are great at scattering blue light, but not so great at scattering red, orange and yellow light. During the day, when the sun is directly visible in the sky, blue light is scattered everywhere, while the other colors are scattered less or, depending on the makeup of the upper and lower atmosphere where you are, absorbed completely. That's why the daytime sky appears blue.
When the sun is rising or setting, however, the light has to make a longer trip through the atmosphere to get to your eyes. The light "bumps into" more particles in the atmosphere along the way and the blue light is scattered and rescattered so many times that it doesn't make it all the way to your eyes. That's why you're able to see the reds, oranges and yellows. The blue light is no longer overpowering those colors.
As for why the sky is yellow and not red or orange, that comes down to what particles are in the sky at that moment. Depending on the size of the particles, they'll scatter light at different wavelengths, so the reason for your yellow sunset can really only be one of three things:
1: Particles in the atmosphere between the sun and you are scattering red and orange very effectively, directing those colors away from you and leaving you with yellow.
2: Particles in the atmosphere where you are (but not for great distances between you and the sun) scatter yellow very effectively, making that the most overpowering color in that particular place.
3: A combination of both of the above.
Looking at the cloud cover in your picture, all of my internet searching says there's a good chance it's reason number two. Rain clouds - and particularly water vapors at the bottoms of rain clouds - are apparently great at scattering yellow light and absorbing red light. The reason you don't see that during the day is that the light from the sun is coming in from above the clouds, but during a sunset or sunrise, the light is coming in along the ground and is lighting up the bottoms of the clouds.
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Post by silverdragon on Jul 18, 2015 7:53:10 GMT
Urban Myth that may be relatively good for weather prediction...
Stand facing north, and watch the clouds.
If the high clouds and the Low clouds are moving in the same direction, the weather will remain "as is"
If the low clouds are moving away from the coast, but the high clouds are moving towards the coast, it will get "wetter".
If the low clouds are moving towards the coast and the high clouds away from the coast, it will get drier.
If ALL the clouds are moving towards the coast, expect fine weather.
If all clouds are moving away from the coast, expect cloudy weather.
And this does depend on how big your island is?...
If you live on a small island just off the coast of a large continent, do your considerations by the continent's coast as if you were on that bit of land.
If you stand facing south, if the sun is out, you may get blinded by the sun and not see the clouds correctly....
If the clouds dont hang about, expect high winds.
If you cant see clouds, get some sun-block...!!... (and quit your whining?...)
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Post by the light works on Jul 18, 2015 11:11:29 GMT
Urban Myth that may be relatively good for weather prediction... Stand facing north, and watch the clouds. If the high clouds and the Low clouds are moving in the same direction, the weather will remain "as is" If the low clouds are moving away from the coast, but the high clouds are moving towards the coast, it will get "wetter". If the low clouds are moving towards the coast and the high clouds away from the coast, it will get drier. If ALL the clouds are moving towards the coast, expect fine weather. If all clouds are moving away from the coast, expect cloudy weather. And this does depend on how big your island is?... If you live on a small island just off the coast of a large continent, do your considerations by the continent's coast as if you were on that bit of land. If you stand facing south, if the sun is out, you may get blinded by the sun and not see the clouds correctly.... If the clouds dont hang about, expect high winds. If you cant see clouds, get some sun-block...!!... (and quit your whining?...) If it is hot inland of you, expect your weather to get cooler and possibly wetter. |
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Post by OziRiS on Sept 27, 2015 21:08:27 GMT
Speaking of red skies, we should have a chance to see a so-called "Super Blood Moon" here in Denmark tonight. It's a total Lunar eclipse, but what makes this one special is that the Moon is in its closest orbit right now, so it's as big in the sky as it's going to get. It hasn't happened since 1982 and it's not going to happen again until 2033, so I'm camping out for the night  The whole thing should start about 3 hours from now, as the Moon begins to move into Earth's shadow, and it'll last almost 5 hours total. I have clear skies and low temps right now and according to the weatherman, clouds aren't about to ruin it any time soon, so I'm psyched!  I'll see if I can snap some respectable pics, but I don't have anything but my phone camera, so my hopes aren't too high. I'm not too bummed about it though. As I've said many times before, life isn't meant to be taken in through the lens of a camera, but through the actual senses. What's the point in having pictures of an event if you weren't really there to witness it anyway? |
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Post by the light works on Sept 28, 2015 0:35:37 GMT
Speaking of red skies, we should have a chance to see a so-called "Super Blood Moon" here in Denmark tonight. It's a total Lunar eclipse, but what makes this one special is that the Moon is in its closest orbit right now, so it's as big in the sky as it's going to get. It hasn't happened since 1982 and it's not going to happen again until 2033, so I'm camping out for the night The whole thing should start about 3 hours from now, as the Moon begins to move into Earth's shadow, and it'll last almost 5 hours total. I have clear skies and low temps right now and according to the weatherman, clouds aren't about to ruin it any time soon, so I'm psyched! I'll see if I can snap some respectable pics, but I don't have anything but my phone camera, so my hopes aren't too high. I'm not too bummed about it though. As I've said many times before, life isn't meant to be taken in through the lens of a camera, but through the actual senses. What's the point in having pictures of an event if you weren't really there to witness it anyway? the suns borderline over the hills, here. only question is if the moon'll be in my field of view. |
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Post by OziRiS on Sept 28, 2015 0:54:36 GMT
The talk was that it would start around 2 am local time here, but so far nothing has happened and it's almost 3 am.
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Post by ponytail61 on Sept 28, 2015 1:13:50 GMT
It's supposed to be starting now but it's still light out here and the mountains don't help. I should be able to see it by the time it's full and watch it return to normal.
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Post by OziRiS on Sept 28, 2015 1:31:21 GMT
It's 3:30 am here and something has started to happen. From my side of the world it looks like someone took a good bite out of the top left part of a cookie right now. Another hour and a half or so and it should be a total eclipse. Still clear skies, so I'm a happy camper |
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Post by the light works on Sept 28, 2015 1:37:06 GMT
The talk was that it would start around 2 am local time here, but so far nothing has happened and it's almost 3 am. I think the 2AM beginning is the part you can only see with advanced optics. |
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Post by the light works on Sept 28, 2015 1:43:14 GMT
It's 3:30 am here and something has started to happen. From my side of the world it looks like someone took a good bite out of the top left part of a cookie right now. Another hour and a half or so and it should be a total eclipse. Still clear skies, so I'm a happy camper we're about 10-20 minutes from moonrise, here. |
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Post by OziRiS on Sept 28, 2015 2:04:52 GMT
FREAKING TYPICAL!!! Less than 10 minutes to the total eclipse and after 5 hours of clear skies, a huge cloud cover takes over! I can barely make out the Moon right now!
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Post by the light works on Sept 28, 2015 2:20:34 GMT
FREAKING TYPICAL!!! Less than 10 minutes to the total eclipse and after 5 hours of clear skies, a huge cloud cover takes over! I can barely make out the Moon right now! Murphy was an optimist. (Smith's Law) |
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Post by OziRiS on Sept 28, 2015 2:28:38 GMT
YAY!!! Clouds drifted over, doesn't look like any more are coming and the eclipse isn't even complete yet! |
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Post by the light works on Sept 28, 2015 2:30:39 GMT
YAY!!! Clouds drifted over, doesn't look like any more are coming and the eclipse isn't even complete yet! eclipse peaks in about 20 minutes here. not moonrise yet in my valley. |
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Post by OziRiS on Sept 28, 2015 2:43:36 GMT
YAY!!! Clouds drifted over, doesn't look like any more are coming and the eclipse isn't even complete yet! eclipse peaks in about 20 minutes here. not moonrise yet in my valley. Dang. Sorry to hear that. It's 4:40 am here and my whole family is asleep. Would have been kind of cool knowing I was sharing this moment with a friend halfway around the world... |
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Post by ironhold on Sept 28, 2015 3:00:33 GMT
Almost total cloud cover on my end.
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Post by GTCGreg on Sept 28, 2015 3:13:16 GMT
A little patchy clouds here but for the most part pretty clear.
Very impressive lunar eclipse . One of the best I've ever seen.
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Post by the light works on Sept 28, 2015 3:25:57 GMT
Mrs TLW lobbied me to run down the road to take a look. got a few pictures, but haven't got them uploaded yet. moon should be in view from the valley in a few more minutes.
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