Local residents described the phenomenon as “enchanting” and “disturbing,” and the first images were captured just hours before the Category 3 storm made landfall.
Purple skies were also seen across the state, including Palm Beach and Fort Myers, during and after the storm as well.
This phenomenon may seem unnatural, but it is truly a product of nature. This happens when weather conditions are just right, and this phenomenon usually coincides with hurricanes.
To understand why this purple color appears in stormy skies, you need to know how atmospheric particles interact with light to produce different colors.
The sun emits short-wave radiation within the visible light spectrum (the part of the electromagnetic spectrum that the human eye can see). When visible light particles reach Earth’s atmosphere, they undergo a process known as Rayleigh scattering, which occurs when radiation particles interact with much smaller atmospheric particles. Short wavelengths, such as blue and purple, are scattered more easily than longer wavelengths.
“This is why the sky looks blue on a nice sunny day,” AccuWeather Meteorologist Brett Rossio said.
When the sun sets, the angle of light falling on the atmosphere changes, causing the sky to change color to pink, purple, orange, red, and yellow.
But the purple sky seen before <a href="https://www.archyde.com/prepare-for-hurricane-milton-gulf-storm-threatens-floridas-west-coast/" title="Prepare for Hurricane Milton: Gulf Storm Threatens Florida's West Coast”>Hurricane Milton reached Florida was not due to the angle of the sun, but rather due to an increase in the amount of water vapor in the atmosphere as a result of the storm.
More water vapor means more particles, which leads to more light scattering, Rossio explained. When this dispersion occurs at dusk, it can create a pink color that overlaps with the dark blue sky.
It is worth noting that Hurricane Milton is not the only hurricane that produced purple skies, as Category 1 Hurricane Florence and Category 5 Hurricane Michael, both of which struck the United States in 2018, also caused this effect.
Hurricane Milton, which struck Florida on October 9, 2024, was downgraded to a Category 3 storm when it made landfall near Sarasota. It caused widespread damage, with power outages and a high number of deaths due to the hurricanes accompanying it.
Source: Daily Mail
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