LOUISVILLE, Ky. — Sunsets across Kentuckiana have been especially eye-catching these last few days.
The bright reddish-orange hue as the sun nears the horizon has been hard to miss. Many of you have shared your own sunset photos with us on our Kentucky/Indiana Cloud Watchers Facebook page.
The reason for the beautiful sunsets lately may surprise you -- it’s due to the wildfire smoke in the air.
While the smoke and haze from Canadian wildfires have been heavily impacting air quality for millions of Americans, it is also affecting the glow of the sun as it rises and sets.
The sun is made up of all the colors in the rainbow and emits a white light. The light has farther to travel at dawn and dusk than it does in the afternoon, when the sun is completely overhead.
Shorter wavelengths, such as blue and violet, are filtered out by upper air particles and only allow the longer wavelengths, such as red and orange, to be visible.
When smoke is in the atmosphere, the light encounters bigger and more numerous particles on its way to the surface. This absorbs the shorter wavelengths and makes the sun appear dimmer during the day, and our sunsets appear a bright red.
The smoke should gradually subside over the next few days.
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