Thin high clouds

The other day, we were out having a very late lunch. On our way home, we happened to notice a promising bright yellow glow in the southwestern sky. It made us rush to the sea hoping for another sundown spectacle.

We arrived at the park on the Ruissalo island just on time to see the last rays of sunshine glittering on the windows of the seafront houses on the Hirvensalo island across the strait.

At first, it was the yellow sunset that kept our attention. Soon we couldn’t but turn our heads to the other direction as we realised everything else was starting to turn light purple and pink.

We were mesmerised watching the magnificent show for half an hour or so. 

On that day, the sunset had been unusually spectacular throughout the southern parts of the country. One of the TV channels later published a meteorologist’s explanation. The reason was that the area was covered with thin high clouds. Those let red colour through but filter all the other colours. The cloud layer had been so thin that before sunset the sky may have even appeared all clear at some places. 

So you never know what you’ll get at sunset by simply looking at the sky. There might be some invisible thin high clouds ready to bowl you over. Weren’t we lucky to be on the spot of this spectacle, once again out of a happy coincidence.