US: Storm Causes Skies Over South Dakota To Turn Green In Rare Phenomenon

The sky in the US state of South Dakota turned an eerie shade of green in a rare phenomenon on Tuesday as a powerful storm pushed through.

Storms passed through South Dakota earlier this week, leaving behind considerable rainfall, hail and wind reports. However, the most unique portion of the severe weather came in the form of an ominous green sky that left residents amazed.

Twitter/@eddiedevonne

Sky in South Dakota turns green

The hue covered the South Dakota hub of Sioux Falls throughout the late afternoon hours.

Many people took to Twitter to share photos of the eerie phenomenon, with cloud-darkened skies whipping up a nearly photosynthetic hue.

Cory Martin, a National Weather Service (NWS) meteorologist, said that thunderstorm clouds can glow green when the red light of the sun at the end of the day interacts with the water or ice content in the storm.

Oh my gosh! Look at how green the sky is ahead of severe storms near Sioux Falls, SD! #sdwx pic.twitter.com/fc7fpN6loL

¡ª Chris Michaels (@WSLS_Michaels) July 5, 2022

These types of storms can be indicative of hail, the forecaster added, which the Sioux Falls area was hit with on Tuesday.

The green skies later gave way to a storm that brought three to five inches of rain and left nearly 30,000 people without power by the time it was over around 5:30 p.m local time, Argus Leader reported.

Spanish sky turns orange

In March, dust and sand blown from the Sahara desert covered parts of Spain, turning the sky orange and coating streets.

It prompted the Spanish authorities to issue extremely bad air quality warnings for capital Madrid and a large swath of the country. The national air quality index listed the capital and large parts of the southeast coast as ¡°extremely unfavorable¡± ¡ª its worst rating.

The Climatology Laboratory at the University of Alicante warned people against staying outside for long periods, citing unfavourable air quality caused by the exceptional meteorological phenomenon.

Wow. #SaharanDust cloud turns #Spanish skies orange. ?pic.twitter.com/IjiSxlZT93

¡ª Auron (@auron83591234) March 15, 2022

Spain¡¯s public health officials had to warn citizens to avoid outdoor exercise and use face masks when outside.

Although harmful to human health, the dust clouds bring nutrient-laden minerals from the Sahara, the planet¡¯s largest and hottest desert, to ocean life and vegetation.

The dust storm from Sahara was described as ¡°extraordinary and very intense" by Spain's weather service while adding that it was unclear if it was the worst episode of its kind on record.

The mass of hot air from Africa, which was brought by Storm Celia, had delivered some much-needed rain for drought-hit Spain. It also upped temperatures in some areas to 20 C (68 F).

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