Zihuatanejo-Ixtapa Message Board - Strange Blue Light in the Sky

Strange Blue Light in the Sky (reply)

b13 — Sat, 10 Dec 2016 18:26:37 +0000

Very nice photo I have never seen that before. Thank you for the explanation
its very cool

Strange Blue Light in the Sky (reply)

Dave — Sat, 10 Dec 2016 16:59:05 +0000

Another beautiful photo. I too, had never heard it. Thanks for posting.

Strange Blue Light in the Sky (reply)

ZihuaRob — Sat, 10 Dec 2016 16:08:02 +0000

Very cool!

I would've just assumed it was the shadow of Guamilule or some other hill to the east.

Strange Blue Light in the Sky

wcameron — Sat, 10 Dec 2016 15:57:28 +0000

Before yesterday morning, I had never heard of crepuscular rays. when I was doing my normal morning photo walk, I noticed a very distinctive beam of blue light stretching from the western horizon up towards the sky. Being the geek that I am (I record a weekly nature themed podcast), I did a google search and found that they are called crepuscular rays. Crepuscular is latin for twilight. As a biologist, we refer to any animal that is most active at dawn and dusk as crepuscular.

Apparently, these beams of light represent the shadows of storms far beyond the horizon. They are visible from great distances away, almost always at dawn or dusk, hence their name, crepuscular rays. While they appear as a converging beam, they are, in fact, parallel. Anyway, I thought it was cool.

wardc_161208_09082 by Ward Cameron, on Flickr