Why Does Wildfire Smoke Turn the Sky Orange?

Wildfire smoke turns the sky orange due to the way light scatters in the atmosphere. When sunlight enters the Earth's atmosphere, it encounters tiny particles such as smoke and water vapor, which scatter the shorter, blue wavelengths of light more than the longer, red wavelengths. As a result, the blue light is dispersed, leaving mainly red and orange hues to reach the observer's eyes, giving the sky its orange appearance. This phenomenon is known as Mie scattering, named after the German physicist who first described it.

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