On a beautiful, soon to be rainy morning, I see wonderful pictures of morning skies across Maine, and majestic sunrises painted bright red, and many even offer the quote, “red skies in the morning, sailors take warning,” and others, “you know what the Bible says about red skies?” Yes I do, do you?
“He answered and said unto them, When it is evening, ye say, It will be fair weather: for the sky is red. And in the morning, It will be foul weather to day: for the sky is red and lowering. O ye hypocrites, ye can discern the face of the sky; but can ye not discern the signs of the times?”
-Matthew 16:2-3 (KJV)
Not, “pink at night, sailors’ delight, pink in the morning, sailors’ warning.”
But I also found:
Is there scientific validity to the saying 'Red sky at night, sailors' delight; red sky in the morning sailors take warning'?
Joe Sienkiewicz, chief of the Ocean Applications Branch and a science and operations officer with the NOAA/NWS Ocean Prediction Center, explains.
Indeed, there is scientific validity to the adage, "red sky at night sailors delight; red sky in the morning sailors take warning." This saying has very old roots. In the bible (Matthew 16:2-3), the following quote is attributed to Jesus: "When it is evening, ye say, fair weather: for the heaven is red. And in the morning, foul weather today for the heaven is red and lowering." There are also versions of this saying that refer to shepherds instead of sailors.
Two factors contribute to the cogency of this saying. The first is that weather systems generally travel from west to east in the mid latitudes. Because the sun rises in the east and sets in the west, a rising sun in advance of an approaching weather system would illuminate the approaching mid- and high-level clouds to create a red sky in the morning. Alternatively, if the sun is setting as a weather system exits and high pressure is building, then the departing clouds would be illuminated. This would create a red sky at night with fair weather to follow.
The reddish color results from scattering of sunlight by suspended particles and aerosols in the atmosphere. The suns rays pass through a greater length of atmosphere at sunrise and sunset than at any other time of day. In addition, aerosol, dirt, and dust concentrations are maximized in the lowest layers of the atmosphere when the atmosphere is dominated by sinking air (high pressure). Therefore when under high pressure we can see vivid red sunsets and sunrises.
And now you know…
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