CONNECTICUT, USA — If you've ever looked at the sky on a beautiful autumn day and noticed just how blue the sky was, it turns out you were on to something!
That deep blue color overhead this time of year is mainly due to two reasons:
1: Less Water Vapor
It's no surprise that cooler air moves in during autumn, with a series of cold fronts often washing away the summer heat. The changing air mass also brings less humidity, meaning there is less water vapor in the atmosphere. Put simply, when you look at the sky in autumn, there's less "stuff" to look through. The haze of summer is replaced by clearer air quality, leading to a bright blue sky!
2: Lower Sun Angle
As the sun dips a little lower in the sky in the autumn months, the sun's rays are scattered differently than in the summertime. It's a process called Rayleigh Scattering. More of the blue end of the visible light spectrum is reached when the solar radiation is refracted in the months of September, October, and November.
Hopefully, we have many more beautiful days of blue sky this autumn!
Dan Amarante is a meteorologist at FOX61 News. He can be reached at damarante@fox61.com. Follow him on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram.
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