Weather Tidbits: Why The Sky Is Blue

This edition of Weather Tidbits will be discussing why the sky is blue. The ‘white’ light released by the sun composes all colors in the color spectrum of various wavelengths. Colors of long wavelength include red and orange, while colors of short wavelength include blue and purple. Once the light reaches Earth’s atmosphere around 18 miles above the surface, it begins to encounter air molecules. The size of the air molecules match appropriately with those of blue wavelengths. Thus, all other colors of the spectrum continue down to the surface relatively unimpeded while the blue light is scattered from molecule to molecule until it is reflected at you from all parts of the sky. Around the dusk and dawn hours, the sky will appear more red and orange because the light has to travel a great distance through the atmosphere. So, colors of longer wavelengths are exposed.