In the US state of South Dakota, the sky has acquired a bright green hue due to the passage of “derecho”. According to the National Weather Service, “derecho” is an extensive long-lived storm that is associated with the rapid movement of a zone of showers and thunderstorms. In Russia, this phenomenon is called a squall line, which precedes the passage of active cold fronts.
Photos posted on social media documented the rare occurrence. An eyewitness compared the sky to what was shown in the movie The Wizard of Oz. Another person recalled the sci-fi horror series Stranger Things.
Cory Martin, a meteorologist for the American National Weather Service, explained that such coloring of clouds occurs due to the peculiarities of the refraction of sunlight in a series of storms. This effect is observed during the refraction of the setting sun and its interaction with particles of water and ice. And for this highlighting in the clouds there must be a lot of water.
According to IndependentThe storm swept through South Dakota on Tuesday and even affected parts of Nebraska and Iowa. Thousands of homes were left without electricity for several hours.
Meanwhile, this is not the first time that the clouds are painted in a different color. Back in May, residents of the Chinese city of Zhoushan surprised by the suddenly reddened sky. Later it turned out that the terrifying hue came from the light refracted by local boats in low clouds in this region. The experts explained that the weather in the eastern port city was perfect for refraction. The sky was cloudy due to drizzle, which caused it to turn red.
