You have probably heard the saying “red skies at night sailors delight; red skies in the morning sailors take warning”? Turns out that it is just not a saying, there is some science that backs it up!

Overall, weather moves from west to east in mid-latitudes. So, when a storm exits, stable weather arrives from the west and the sun is setting the effect illuminates the leaving clouds with tones of orange, yellow, and red.

The reddish tones are due to aerosols and suspended dust particles in the atmosphere. The light scatters through these particles, maximizing them in the lowest levels of the atmosphere. If we add the high pressure the reddish tones become extra radiant. This is what makes the first half of the saying makes sense scientifically; "red skies at night, sailor’s delight."

Alternatively, if there are red skies in the morning, that is because the sun, at sunrise, is illuminating clouds of an incoming storm system. So, red skies in the morning, sailors take warning.

But there are a few exceptions, under certain circumstances, especially during the summer months as the trade winds shift across the southern part of the mid-latitudes.

For example, if there is a tropical storm coming in from the east-southeast, you may notice red skies at sunset. At first, you might think that means delightful weather is on the way, but with an incoming tropical system, there might be a threat in place. A nearby tropical system is no sailor’s delight either.