Both meteorological and astronomical autumn are now in full swing. Many swear by the splendor of the forests during this season. But for others, those bright red-golden sunrises and sunsets can certainly match it. But where does that fiery sky come from? And why is she so spectacular right now?
Sunlight consists of all the colors of the rainbow. But that doesn’t mean that an equal amount of each color ends up in our eyes. When the sun rises or sets, the light has to travel a greater distance. As a result, the oxygen and nitrogen molecules in the air filter out almost all blue light. What ultimately remains are the warmer shades such as yellow, orange and red.
A good breeze or rain shower removes particles from the air, making the sky look clearer.
But the weather can make such a sunrise look even more vivid. One of the most important elements are the clouds. Ice crystals and water droplets in medium and high clouds reflect sunlight and provide a spectacular view. Suddenly the whole sky is on fire. For the best results, the sky should be slightly to heavily cloudy with a clear horizon. The wind can also help. This not only creates beautiful patterns in the cloud cover, but also, together with rain, makes the many particles floating around in our air disappear. As a result, those particles no longer block our view. When they are gone after a good breeze or rain shower, more warm tones reach us and everything looks brighter.
And it is precisely in the autumn (and winter) that there is often a beautiful cloud cover above us, the wind blows more and more days have a rainy character. This has to do, among other things, with the jet stream, a river of air ten kilometers above our heads. This not only shifts more southwards during this period, causing the fronts to travel across our country more often, but also becomes more powerful due to the greater temperature difference between the poles and tropics. In addition, the air is also drier during the fall and winter months, which means that the pollutant particles have less water vapor to grow and are less likely to bother the warm tones.
Finally, the sun also rises at a different angle in autumn and winter. That translates into a longer sunrise. And the sun rises later. As a result, more people see these beautiful sunrises and can enjoy them for longer. Result: the darkest months of the year are indeed the most photogenic in terms of sunrise.
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