Weather Tidbits: Red in Morning, Sailors Take Warning; Red at Night, Sailor’s Delight

We’ll be discussing the weather folklore that says red in the morning, sailors take warning; red at night, sailor’s delight in this edition of Weather Tidbits, and whether this has any merit. Most storms, but not all, move from west to east because of the mid-latitude westerlies. The sun rises along the eastern horizon. Due to the low sun angle, the wavelengths of the light scatter and create the red color on the clouds. Thus, sailors take warning of a storm to start the day. The sunset is on the western horizon, so if storms are exiting to the east, the sun will once again create that red color in the clouds because of the scattering of wavelengths. So sailors can be delighted that storms are departing. Thus, there is some merit, but not completely. Still more so than other weather folklore.