The science behind the mysterious orange sky in California

One of my favorite albums from U2 is “Under a Blood Red Sky”. This album was kept in mind as I saw the next picture of the sky in California this week. While not completely red, the red-orange color of the sky was undeniable and hilarious. Many people compared the scenes to one of NASA’s Martian Rovers. West U.S. Experiencing heat, enough dry vegetation and even a revelation fire season burning by electricity. About 20 million acres of land have been burned (and calculated), according to UCLA meteorologist Daniel Swain. So why was the sky orange?

You may be tempted to conclude that it is the color represented by all the fires burning, but it is more complex. We have to talk about something called smoke, aerosols, scattering and sea level to properly explain what is happening. I’ll start with sea level, which according to the National Weather Service “represents the difference between a mass of cold, humid air and a mass of warm air.” Sea levels on the west coast of the continent extend for weeks. Due to the atmospheric stability of this meteorological facility it can also act as a low level barrier. Sea level as seen below is a relatively shallow feature in the atmosphere that descends from the sea.

Most of the fire is on the inside but the current of the wind blows smoke towards the bay area (see below). Smoke, a type of aerosol particle, moves up and down the sea level and if the wind is weak in an area, it can literally sit on top of the stagnant, humid air that has flowed out of the Pacific Ocean. This trend also explains why many surface residents do not actually smoke. It is at the top of the air mass. However, if sea levels deteriorate, ash can settle on the surface and significantly reduce air quality.

Well, that was a great explanation, but why the color orange? The answer is the answer to how particles of different sizes are released. The sky is usually blue because of something called Raleigh scattering. Atoms in the atmosphere more effectively scatter the short wavelength “blue” in all directions as we see fit. Relatively large smoke particles are also more scattered but not uniformly in the color spectrum, including violet, blue, and green. Guess what these eyes leave to see? You guessed it, orange and red. Sunset red – orange for the same reason. When the sun is low on the horizon, light has to pass through more atmosphere (more scattered). Scattered by large particles, My goes into the field of scattering. For more information on Rylag, Mai and other sporadic properties, this link is useful here.

I hope this quick prime was useful. Be safe.