Author Topic: Brown/Orange/Yellow light and color of sleet and snow after thunderSnow/Sleet  (Read 965 times)

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Offline DaleReid

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I'm in Wisconsin just a 100 miles east of the Twin Cities of Minneapolis/St. Paul, and are getting a near miss on some of the really awful weather that Minnesota is getting.

We had some slush and snow yesterday, and another 5 or so inches of heavy wet snow this morning.  Then a bit of a break, and about 8 a.m. the overcast seemed to change color, and the color of the light all around became more like late day.  It was a very noticeable change, and a big increase in wind speeds from the east.  A somewhat rare thundersnow storm began and was fun to experience, with more horizontal snow, changing to sleet.  After that storm passed, the color of light overall changed back to a normal blue white look.  On further examination of the top crust of the snow, however, it is very clear (but almost impossible to photograph that the ice pellets and sleet that fell, about 1/10 or less of an inch, is of a dirty yellow tint.

Once before as a kid a few decades ago I recall a big storm in the Dakotas stirring up a lot of dust and when it snowed then, there was a reddish hue to the snow.

Has anyone got an opinion on what might cause the precip to be colored?  The color of the ambient light is explainable by the sun filtering through the clouds, akin to when a thunderstorm turns greenish as it approaches of there are very high clouds and a lot of water held high before it begins with a rainfall.

Just curious and others around here who aren't weather oriented are asking the same questions.
Dale
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Offline chief-david

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Offline chief-david

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I pulled a bowl of snow in to see how orange the snow will be.



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Offline CW2274

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akin to when a thunderstorm turns greenish as it approaches of there are very high clouds and a lot of water held high before it begins with a rainfall.
Can't speak to the other colors, but the greenish hue from a T-storm comes from the sun refracting through the hail core.

Offline DaleReid

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Thanks, the last posting of the twitter feeds (which I don't have access to usually) has a great animation of some GOES16 images with an amazing movement of air and particles in it.

Thanks for the explanation and all the attachments to help explain this.
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Offline DaleReid

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CW:  Green color in clouds and associated (usually) continuous thunder and all is one of the few things that scares me and makes my neck air stand up (not much above the neck that works well, including having hair).

There have been a few in my life, some from grade school age, that truly frightened me and it didn't help that my stoic old dad was rounding all his kids, even the ones he didn't mind loosing, up and heading into the basement.

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Offline CW2274

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CW:  Green color in clouds and associated (usually) continuous thunder and all is one of the few things that scares me and makes my neck air stand up (not much above the neck that works well, including having hair).

There have been a few in my life, some from grade school age, that truly frightened me and it didn't help that my stoic old dad was rounding all his kids, even the ones he didn't mind loosing, up and heading into the basement.
Oh yeah, same here as it was always thought that green meant tornado. That's obviously not true as a whole, but it does certainly mean that the storm has the potential to be severe from the hail threat alone.