Red Sky at Night

Where better to go after a hectic few days than to Cramond for a lovely walk and to admire the beautiful red sky.

'Red sky at night, shepherd's delight. Red sky in the morning, shepherd's warning" first appeared in the bible in the Gospel of Matthew. It is an old weather saying often used at sunrise and sunset to signify the changing sky and originally known to help the shepherds prepare for the next day's weather. Despite there being global variations in this saying such as "Red sky at night, sailors delight. Red sky in morning, sailors warning", the scientific understanding behind such occurrences remain the same.

The saying is most reliable when weather systems predominantly come from the west as they do in the UK. "Red sky at night, shepherds delight" can often be proven true, since red sky at night means fair weather is generally headed towards you.

A red sky appears when dust and small particles are trapped in the atmosphere by high pressure. This scatters blue light and leaving only red light to give the sky its notable appearance.

A red sky at sunset means high pressure is moving in from the west so therefore the next day will usually be dry and pleasant. "Red sky in the morning, shepherds warning" means a red sky appears due to the high pressure weather system having already moved east meaning the good weather has passed, most likely making way for a wet and windy low pressure system.

I hope you have all had a good day.