My friend Tim Ausburn insists that sunsets right now are absolutely amazing, more so than the rest of the year, and he’s right. Fall and Winter tend to be the most spectacular times for sunsets across the country, especially Houston, thanks to several factors.
As you can feel today, the air right now is simply more crisp and clear--summer’s smog, haze and humidity are at a minimum compared to our hot Houston summers. Stephen F. Corfidi with the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Association (NOAA) notes that air quality can be key for quality sunsets!
Corfidi wrote in a 2014 report: Because air circulation is more sluggish during the summer, and because the photochemical reactions which result in the formation of smog and haze proceed most rapidly at that time of the year, late fall and winter are the most favored times for sunrise and sunset viewing over most of the United States.
That’s kind of a fancy way to say that the sun’s light is not hampered by all that summer stuff in the air!
In addition, the sun’s angle is way to our south (remember when it passed south over the equator during the autumnal equinox?). That matters because red light travels farther than blue light, which gets scattered more easily, thus the red light and its hues of orange and pink tend to stand out beautifully right now.
RELATED: AFTER ALL, IT’S FALL!
In addition, more ice crystals are present in the upper atmosphere during these months and ice crystals will reflect the sun’s light even more so than water droplets, bringing a real vibrancy to those colors:
Pair a clear evening with the right landscape, or waterscape, and you have a real stunner:
And let’s not forget, those sunrises look pretty spectacular, too, for exactly the same reasons. In fact, this morning ‘moonrise’ brings a smile of wonder:
People know I love sunrises and sunsets and here’s why: a beautiful sunrise marks the beginning of what just might be a wonderful day and--when it’s not--a gorgeous sunset at least made getting through it a little better!
Have a sun-sational week and keep those sunsets coming!
Frank
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