The severe storms that swept through the American Midwest, and in particular South Dakota, on July 5 generated a rare weather phenomenon that gave the sky a bright green hue.
An atmosphere of the apocalypse. In the United States, a powerful storm hit South Dakota, Minnesota and Iowa on July 5, bringing strong winds, heavy rain and huge hailstones. The sky then turned green. A change of color which lasted until July 6 and fascinated the inhabitants of the American Midwest who widely shared their photos and videos on social networks.
South Dakota currently has a green sky rn so I thought I’d make this for the fallout fans pic.twitter.com/vlBVGDbJc5
— MasterColeChief (@MasterColeChief) July 7, 2022
The green in this thing is insane! Taken in Sioux Falls South Dakota looking south west. #sdwx pic.twitter.com/x7Yx6UE2wF
— Tanner Charles(@TannerCharlesMN) July 5, 2022
This green color taken by the sky is due to a very rare meteorological phenomenon caused by a derecho.
A derecho, which is a powerful wind storm extending more than 240 miles, moved through South Dakota and other parts of the Plains on Tuesday. The storm brought powerful winds — up to 99 miles per hour in some areas — and even turned the skies green. https://t.co/azKI3z5KT0
— The New York Times (@nytimes) July 6, 2022
It is a long line of thunderstorms and micro bursts that move very quickly like a hurricane. The green sky is really just the visual effects of light scattering through water droplets in this thundercloud, according to Canadian weather news channel The Weather Network.
“Thunderstorms usually occur in the late afternoon or early evening when daytime heat peaks and also when the sun’s path begins to drop over the horizon, this is the time when we see the sky turns orange/red in the evening,” said Kelly Sonnenurg, Weather Network meteorologist.
Skies took on a mean, green hue over parts of South Dakota Tuesday afteroon as severe storms swept through the region. #SDwx https://t.co/b31janKXxd
— The Weather Network (@weathernetwork) July 6, 2022
“Red light from sunset passes through the bluish or white opaque water and ice droplets in the storm cloud, giving the stormy sky a greenish glow,” she added.
The more hail or hailstones and water droplets there are in this cluster of thunderstorms, the greener the sky is likely to turn.
This storm deprived thousands of people of electricity.
