Sunsets Over The Central Valley

Autumn sunsets are the best of the year, particularly as seen across the Central Valley.

Sunsets are particularly spectacular in autumn because blue light is scattered easiest by nitrogen and oxygen air molecules, whereas “longer wavelengths — reds and oranges – are not scattered as much by air molecules,” The Weather Channel reports.

During sunrise and sunset, sunlight must pass through more of the atmosphere before we see it. TWC explains, “so it comes into contact with even more molecules in the air.”  And, “As days grow shorter, the skies at sunset glow with the most spectacular hues, blooming with pinks, reds and oranges.”

Autumn weather patterns also bring drier, cleaner air from the north, allowing more colors of the spectrum to “make it through to our eyes without getting scattered by particles in the air, producing brilliant sunsets and sunrises that can look red, orange, yellow or even pink,” concludes TWC.

In the Central Valley, agricultural haze from farmers burning off their fields adds carbon molecules to the air, making the sunsets downright awe inspiring.

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