Blue, yellow and red: Mysterious sky glow in Bavaria - and its causes

2023-01-11T12:37:46.049Z

Blue, yellow and red: Mysterious sky glow in Bavaria - and its causes Created: 01/11/2023, 13:30 By: Felix Herz The sky in Bavaria can shine in different colors - for example with a blue glow in the middle of the night (symbolic picture), during the day yellow in Munich or, as recently, bright red. Exciting weather phenomena are usually responsible for this. © lausitznews.de / Christian Offenbe

Blue, yellow and red: Mysterious sky glow in Bavaria - and its causes

Created: 01/11/2023, 13:30

By: Felix Herz

The sky in Bavaria can shine in different colors - for example with a blue glow in the middle of the night (symbolic picture), during the day yellow in Munich or, as recently, bright red.

Exciting weather phenomena are usually responsible for this.

Not just blue and white - the sky in Bavaria can shine in a wide variety of colors.

Often looks supernatural, but has very logical causes.

Munich – The sky in Bavaria is like the “white-blue magnificent canopy of cosiness”, wrote the Munich writer Carl Amery.

And in the tourism advertisements, the sky also shines white-blue on the beautiful landscape of the Free State, as is also sung about in the anthem.

In reality, however, the Bavarian sky is more varied - and colourful.

Colorful skies in Bavaria: weather phenomena and artificial causes

The sky in Bavaria often looks as if it came from the special effects studios in Hollywood.

From bright red in the middle of the night to yellow daylight that looks like something out of a Mad Max movie, it's all there.

And when the weather gets uncomfortable again, the sky in Bavaria likes to turn a menacing black color.

Weather in Bavaria: The most spectacular pictures from the four seasons

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But as is so often the case with supernatural-looking sights, there is always a logically explainable reason behind it in Bavaria.

But it is no less exciting.

Bright blue sky at night: Glowing clouds in Bavaria

The phenomenon of glowing nocturnal clouds, which is more at home in the north, also occurs again and again in Bavaria.

But what are noctilucent clouds?

The German Weather Service explains: "Noctilucent clouds are faint silvery-white clouds in the Earth's upper atmosphere that can be seen mostly in a northerly direction on the horizon on some summer nights."

The phenomenon is rather rare in Germany and even rarer in Bavaria.

The noctilucent clouds "can only be seen when the sun is between 6 degrees and 16 degrees below the horizon," according to the DWD.

Because then the clouds are still illuminated by the sun, although the sky is already dark.

In exceptional cases, the glowing noctilucent clouds also appear in Bavaria - as in the summer of 2019, recorded here in a BR broadcast.

Yellow sky over Munich: Visiting the Sahara dust

At the beginning of 2022, he made a name for himself several times: the Sahara dust.

Especially in March, he covered the state capital Munich, among other things, from cars to roofs, the city shone in a dark yellow.

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This is what it looked like on March 15 in Munich.

But the sky was also orange-yellow, lending a futuristic-dystopian look to numerous photos that went viral on social media.

The desert sand also brought with it the dramatic-sounding blood rain - a weather phenomenon in which the raindrops take on a dark orange color, which gives them the characteristic name.

Bright red night sky over Bavaria: Users are puzzled about the cause

Earlier this year, Reddit user "u/Sasuke794" posted a photo on the social network, which he says was taken in the middle of the night in Bavaria, showing an eerily bright red sky.

The information cannot be checked – the users nevertheless had lively discussions about the possible cause.

There were many theories, from the credible to the funny - but the phenomenon could not be finally explained, since "u/Sasuke794" did not specify where exactly he took the photo.

However, judging by the origin of the glow, which appears to be in the lower right corner of the photo, the bright red glow is likely to be of artificial origin.

Special greenhouse lights or activity in a factory or chemical plant are the most likely causes of the impressive skies.

Visible thunderstorm rumble: When the sky flexes its muscles

However, it is often a violent storm that causes the sky to lose its typical Bavarian blue and white colour.

At the end of May, for example, a violent storm hit Bavaria - and this was reflected in an impressive way in the sky, which took on a menacing purple-black color and was only occasionally lit by lightning.

Heavy rain, hailstones the size of golf balls and extreme gusts of wind are not uncommon in the Bavarian spring.

It is therefore likely that further chapters will be added to this book in 2023 - and the sky in Bavaria will continue to shine in a wide variety of colours.

(fhz)