why do clouds appear muted reddish orange in color at night but white and gray in the morning?

Question

why do clouds appear muted reddish orange in color at night but white and gray in the morning?

In: 0

Answer 1

Clouds appear to be reddish orange at night because of the way that sunlight is scattered as it passes through Earth’s atmosphere. At night, the light from the sun must pass through more of the atmosphere to reach our eyes, which causes the short wavelengths (like blue and green light) to be scattered more than the longer wavelengths (like red and orange light). This means that the light we see coming from the clouds at night is mostly red and orange, giving them a reddish orange color. In the morning, the sun is higher in the sky, so the light from the sun reaches our eyes directly without having to pass through as much of the atmosphere. This means that all colors are more evenly scattered, so the clouds appear white or gray.