A Rare Green Flash!

For the first time in my life I finally witnessed the rare green flash on the setting sun! At sunset, sunlight is passing through a great deal of the earth’s atmosphere, which refracts (bends) the sun’s light like a prism. The shorter wavelength violet and blue light is reduced by scattering and doesn’t make it to us. However, the longer wavelength reds and oranges do, creating our beautiful sunsets. When atmospheric conditions are just right, a brief (just one or two seconds) patch of the green light appears above the sun just before it sinks below the horizon. I shot a video of this…if you would like that for your story, let me know and I’ll send it to you.

Paul H. Gross, CCM, CBM
Fellow, American Meteorological Society

iPhone 17

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