Dust, smoke, thunder creates unique sunset

Monday night’s eerie orange sky was caused by a combination of dust, smoke and thunder, according to Ron Miller a meteorologist at the National Weather Service. The orange of the sunset came from smoke and dust in the air to the west of Spokane, Miller said. There were no major thunderstorms to the west of Spokane. Dust and smoke give sunsets a stronger orange color. In Spokane the thunderstorm had cleansed the air. “The air here was very clear and clean,” he said. As the sun set in the west the thunderstorm moved east. That’s when the setting sun reflected off the backside of the thunderstorm illuminating the entire sky. That created what Miller called “a reflection of the sunset in the backside of the thunderstorm as it went off into the east.” Aside from the wild sunset, yesterday’s storm featured an unusual number of cloud to ground lightning strikes. There were more than 200 lightning strikes between 7 p.m. and 9 p.m., Miller said.