Who remembers this old sailor’s adage?
“Red sky in the morning, sailor take warning…
Red sky at night, sailors delight!”
This old-time meteorological rule of thumb has been used by seafarers for thousands of years. Sailors learned that if the sun was red at sunrise (looking east), it meant trouble was brewing in the form of haze or storm clouds. But if the sun was red at sunset (looking west), then favorable winds were on the way.
These past couple weeks have an been interesting modern-day look at this phenomenon, which holds fairly true north of the equator. Here in the Puget Sound area, the wind has been coming from the Northeast, blowing in wildfire smoke from Canada and Eastern Washington and creating a smoggy haze. But the stagnant air has been so persistent that we’ve had red sun at morning AND at night for several days… and the smoke has been so thick at times that at times you could hardly see the mountains around you!
It’s been gorgeous in its own eerie way, though…
Beautiful sunset in the Harbor surrounded by smoke
The high pressure that has kept the smoke here also meant a lot of warm weather, which is great for getting out on the water as long as you can tolerate a bit of haze!
We also took the opportunity to enjoy the warm weather and sailed out from the Harbor the other day. We were lucky enough to run into the world water ski championship along the Ruston waterfront! If you’ve never had a chance to see a professional race, it’s something to behold! The stamina these contestants have is truly amazing, 45 minutes of intense competition.
Enjoy these last hazy, lazy days of summer! Make sure to send us pictures of the adventures you and your boats have been on 🙂
The red sky addage comes, I believe, from the color of the clouds, not the sun. A red sky (colored clouds) at sunrise indicates clear skies east and a front coming in from the west that brings the clouds for the sun to make red – usually not an ideal situation for sailing. A red sky (clouds) in the evening indicates the passing of a front with clear skies to the west and, presumably, clear sailing as a high moves in from the west. I’m not convinced the prediction is reliable, but before NOAA and the Weather Service, it was better than nothing. The smoke the past few weeks has been widespread in the northwest. I’m in Bend, OR and have had the same red sun morning and evening here.
Thank you for the newsletter will look forward to future editions.
Ted Monmonier Captains Gig