We will continue our mild and dry start to November as a ridge of high pressure will give us sunny skies through Saturday with high temperatures in the upper 60s. A weak storm system passes through to our north Sunday, bringing us a few clouds and slightly cooler temperatures, but sunshine should return by Monday and temperatures will climb back into the upper 60s through most of the work week.

So why is the sky blue? Light is the visible portion of the electromagnetic spectrum, and sunlight is actually made up of “all the colors of the rainbow”, which appear white when put together. The different colors have different wavelengths, with the blues and the violets having the shortest, and the oranges and the reds having the longest.

Here’s where it gets a little tricky. Air is made up of colorless gas molecules which have a diameter that are smaller than the wavelength of light. This causes a scattering of the light, but a somewhat selective scattering. The blues, with a shorter wavelength, are scattered more effectively than the longer wavelength reds, which effectively pass through untouched. This scattering reflects the blue light off of the air molecules, and that is why the sky appears blue.