Weather Whys: Behind a beautiful sunset

Sunsets as of late, especially Tuesday evening, have been quite vibrant and colorful. 

But have you ever wondered what is behind a beautiful sunset? Well, it all has to do with a process called Rayleigh Scattering!

To make a long story short, Rayleigh Scattering is the scattering of light present in the atmosphere via gases, and air/dust particles.

This process begins with the sun emitting 'white' light that consists of the colors of the rainbow. 

When the light reaches Earth's atmosphere, the first to be scattered are the blue and violet wavelengths. This is why the sky is blue during the day. 

As the day is about to come to a close, this 'white' light emitted by the sun has a further distance to travel. This allows blue and violet colors to be scattered away, leaving red and orange colors behind. And if you have the right amount of cloud cover in place, it will make for a vibrant and beautiful sunset!