Why Was The Sky Yellow In Minnesota Tuesday?

TWIN CITIES, MN — If you took a look outside your window Tuesday at about 9 p.m. in the Twin Cities metro, you would have seen an eerie orange and yellow sky brightly lighting up the night.

The stunning display was due to a combination of the sunset and the clouds that were carrying lots of water.

"Behind thunderstorms in the evening, high clouds remain," the National Weather Service explained.

"The setting sun emits light that is bent with longer wavelengths. While the blue (shorter) wavelengths are scattered out, the yellow-orange-red part of the spectrum remains, thus producing the sky we're seeing tonight."

The spectacle could be seen across the metro. Residents uploaded photos from Plymouth, Minneapolis, St. Paul, and elsewhere

The NWS said there's no specific name for the phenomenon, "it's just rather unusual and pretty cool to see!"