Green Sky’s all of the sudden in South Dakota USA … pic.twitter.com/BxMIolG6mZ
— ⚡️hamaryah Ban Yahawadah (@eddiedevonne) July 5, 2022
Green skies sound like the backdrop to a sci-fi film, not what you might see when you look out the window. However, that was exactly what people in Sioux Falls, South Dakota, witnessed on Tuesday, July 5. Due to a naturally occurring but rare phenomenon, the sky turned a vibrant green. To understand the startling effect of this sight, you have to take a look at the photos people posted of the event.
In many of these surreal images, the skyline of Sioux Falls is overwhelmed by an acid-green sky storming overhead. While many people joked online about how this signaled the start of the apocalypse, an NWS meteorologist kindly shed some scientific light on the subject. “Water/ice particles in storm clouds with substantial depth and water content will primarily scatter blue light,” Cory Martin explained in his infographic. “When the reddish light scattered by the atmosphere illuminates the blue water/ice droplets in the cloud they will appear to glow GREEN. It takes a tremendous amount of water content within the cloud to achieve this color, which usually means a substantial amount of ice (large hail) has to be present).”
So, the neon green sky that South Dakotans saw on Tuesday most likely preceded a strong thunderstorm with a lot of hail. Fortunately, people recorded its striking appearance before the sky cleared up again.
People capture the surreal sight of a green sky in Sioux Falls, South Dakota.
The sky turns green in South Dakota recently, looks like a scene from a sci-fi film. pic.twitter.com/jZPb253pBw
— Seekers Of The Cosmos (@SeekersCosmos) July 7, 2022
GOODNESS GREEN. This is a look at the sky in Sioux Falls right now as severe storms push through from one of the DOT cams. #SDwx @foxweather pic.twitter.com/VhSEvxpE1D
— Heather Brinkmann (@WeatherHx) July 5, 2022
Though extremely unusual to see, it is not a post-apocalyptic scene.
Video of the green sky behind the wall cloud as it passes Sioux Falls, SD
SoDakZak on Reddit pic.twitter.com/RzsnKwX19R
— Discover Earth (@discoverearthhq) July 6, 2022
The green sky is caused by light being scattered by ice.
Pics of the green sky from my family in Sioux Falls have been incredible! Had to dig up this fun green cloud infographic I made back in the day. Hail reports not too large at the moment, but storms are very moisture loaded in this warm, tropical environment. #SDwx #IAwx pic.twitter.com/S39JLSRfEu
— Cory Martin (@cory_martin) July 5, 2022
When it is this green, it usually indicates that there is a lot of ice, or hail, in the sky.
The sky turned green yesterday in Sioux Falls, SD, USA pic.twitter.com/qCrkJRKHiO
— John 8:32 Truth will set you free (@forYA7747Y) July 7, 2022
Have never seen something like that.
Green sky with combination of blue in Sioux falls SD#sdwx pic.twitter.com/aAq5G2K9Xb— Aafaque (@aafaque33) July 5, 2022
h/t: [IFL Science]
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