On Tuesday, June 30, while rescue teams continued to search for survivors among the rubble left by the devastating earthquakes of June 24, the sky over Caracas and other Venezuelan cities turned intense shades of red during sunset, triggering a new wave of alarm among a population already affected by tragedy.
Images of the unusual phenomenon in the Venezuelan sky quickly spread on social media, with many users interpreting it as an ominous sign or a supernatural event linked to the earthquakes.
A user on X summed up the collective sentiment with a phrase: "Red sky in Caracas, just what we needed."
However, experts were emphatic: there was nothing extraordinary or related to tectonic activity.
The scientific explanation: Rayleigh scattering
"It is essentially a very common optical phenomenon that occurs everywhere on the planet. It has a name, and it is called Rayleigh scattering."
Capote explained that during sunset, sunlight must travel a much greater distance through the atmosphere before reaching the observer's eyes. Along that journey, short-wavelength colors—such as blue and violet—scatter easily, while long-wavelength colors—red and orange—manage to arrive with greater intensity.
"What reaches us, to our eyes, are the red components of the white light that comes from the sun," she specified.
The phenomenon even has a name in Spanish: candilazo, defined by the Royal Spanish Academy as a twilight glow.
The meteorologist José Miguel Viñas, a consultant for the World Meteorological Organization, describes it as "the dispersion of sunlight at sunset when a layer of clouds intervenes in its path."
Viñas adds on his website Divulgameteo that "the intensity of red and orange hues is greater at sunset than at sunrise, due to the higher presence of suspended particles in the air during the afternoon."
Why was it so intense this time?
Several factors may have amplified the visual effect in Venezuela.
The arrival of Saharan dust in the Caribbean – expected from mid-June 2026 – increases the suspended particles in the atmosphere, intensifying the reddish coloration.
This is compounded by high humidity and cloud cover typical of the season, as well as possibly the dust generated by the collapse of dozens of buildings during the earthquakes.
Capote also pointed out that the same phenomenon was recorded on June 29 in Tampa Bay, demonstrating that it occurs in any corner of the planet regardless of any seismic activity.
The context that explains fear
The alarm of the Venezuelan population is understandable. The two earthquakes on June 24 -with magnitudes of 7.2 and 7.5, separated by just 39 seconds- were the most devastating in the country in over 125 years.
As of June 30, the death toll surpassed 1,943 and more than 10,571 injured, with tens of thousands missing.
The UN estimated more than 6.76 million affected by the disaster, and the state of La Guaira was declared a disaster zone.
Rescue efforts are still ongoing with international support, as over 600 aftershocks kept the population on edge.
In that atmosphere of mourning and extreme tension, a sunset of crimson hues was enough to awaken new fears.
Experts, however, were clear: the reddish sky does not signal anything, it can happen anywhere in the world, and there is no scientific evidence linking red skies to seismic activity.
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