Hurricane Milton struck the state of Florida on the night of this Wednesday as a powerful category 3 hurricane, with winds of up to 200 km/h and storm surges that unleashed chaos in the region.
However, before the storm unleashed its full fury, an unusual phenomenon caught the attention of the residents: the sky turned a striking shade of purple in several areas of the state.
Although it may seem surprising, this event has a scientific explanation.
The phenomenon behind such colorations is known as Rayleigh scattering.
The phenomenon of Rayleigh scattering: Why did the sky turn purple in Florida?
The peculiar purple color that appeared in the sky before Milton's arrival is due to Rayleigh scattering, an atmospheric phenomenon that also explains why the sky often appears blue.
This process occurs when sunlight passes through the Earth's atmosphere, which is filled with gases and particles.
Sunlight contains all the wavelengths of visible colors, from red to violet, each with a different wavelength.
Violet and blue, having the shortest wavelengths, are the ones that scatter the most when passing through the atmosphere.
Under normal conditions, the sky appears blue because those short waves scatter more easily.
However, during storms like Hurricane Milton, the amount of suspended particles in the atmosphere notably increases, altering the way light is scattered.
Thus, instead of the typical reddish or orange tones that usually appear at sunset, the sky can take on a purple hue due to the interaction of red and blue waves with the additional particles generated by the meteorological phenomenon.
Although impressive, this effect is not exclusive to Milton. Other hurricanes, like Dorian, also stained the skies of Florida with this surprising purple hue.
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