Weather Tidbits: Sunsets & Wildfire Smoke

This Weather Tidbits will discuss how wildfire smoke affects sunsets. The sun emits light of different wavelengths. Light of shorter wavelengths include colors from violet to blue to yellow while longer wavelengths include colors from yellow to orange and red. When the sun is at a high angle in the atmosphere during the middle of the day, the sunlight travels through a lesser distance of the atmosphere to the surface then during the evening. When the sun is along the horizon during the evening, the sunlight has to travel a greater distance of the atmosphere to reach the surface. This makes it harder for light of shorter wavelengths to reach the surface. Thus, colors or red and orange in the sun and atmosphere along the horizon are more common.

When wildfire smoke is in the atmosphere, this presents an even greater challenge for light of shorter wavelengths to reach the surface. The smoke scatters the short wavelength colors away from the surface. The longer wavelengths are the only colors that are able to penetrate through the smoke. This heavily exaggerates the reds and oranges in the sky during a sunset. That is what makes a smoky sunset so vibrant!