Calgary’s Spectacular Sunrises and Stunning Sunsets
Everyone at one time or another has marveled at the beautiful red and orange colors of a sunrise or sunset. Although colorful sunrises and sunsets can be seen anywhere, certain parts of the world are especially famous for their twilight hues. Calgary is ideally suited for amazing sunrises and sunsets.
Calgary: Canada’s Sunrise/Sunset City
While Calgary probably isn’t the first place you think of for great sunrises or sunsets, it should be. Our clean air and Chinook clouds are perfect for creating colourful sunrises and sunsets.
During the month of November, my Twitter feed was full of photos with spectacular sunrises and sunsets.
I thought I would collect a few and share them with you.
Calgary Sunrise Slideshow
Sunrise/Sunset 101
Why do some parts of the world enjoy more beautiful sunsets than others, and why do they favor certain months? What are the ingredients for truly memorable sunrises and sunsets?
One common myth is that manmade dust and pollution cause colourful sunrises and sunsets. In fact, air pollution does not enhance the colour of the sky, but subdues them. In the summer, air circulation is more sluggish which means air pollution is more prevalent resulting in less spectacular summer sunrises and sunsets in most cities.
In fact, clean air is the main ingredient common to brightly coloured sunrises and sunsets.
In late fall and winter the air is cleaner which makes this time of the year perfect for sunrise and sunset viewing in Calgary and the mountains.
Another fun factoid is that humans see the sky as blue because human eyes are more sensitive to blue light than to violet. In reality the sky is more violet, than blue.
Why are sunsets red and orange? At sunrise or sunset, sunlight takes a much longer path through the atmosphere than during the middle part of the day; this lengthened the path which results in an increased amount of violet and blue light being scattered out of the beam so light that reaches our eyes early or late in the day is noticeably reddened.
Clouds then catch the last red-orange rays of the setting sun like a theatre screen and reflect this light to our eyes.
Calgary Sunset Slideshow
Importance of Clouds
Certain types of clouds are more closely associated with eye-catching sunsets than others. To produce vivid sunset colors, a cloud must be high enough to intercept "unadulterated" sunlight” i.e., light that has not suffered attenuation and/or colour loss by passing through the atmospheric boundary layer. The boundary layer is the layer near the surface which contains most of the atmosphere's dust and haze. This largely explains why spectacular shades of scarlet, orange and red most often grace cirrus and altocumulus layers, but only rarely low clouds such as stratus or stratocumulus.
Some of the most beautiful sunrises and sunsets feature middle or high clouds that cover the entire sky except for a narrow clear strip near the horizon. This is what makes Calgary’s Chinook clouds have such dramatic sunrises and sunsets.
Link: The Colours of Sunrises And Twilight
Link: Chinook Cloud Explained
Yes even I couldn’t resist tweeting out this sunset at Grand Trunk Park across the street from my house.
Last Word
Yellowknife and other places in northern Canada promote “Northern Lights” tourism, perhaps Calgary, Canmore and Banff should be promoted sunrise and sunset tourism next year.
Maybe the next big tower in downtown Calgary could have a sunrise/sunset light show on the side of the building, like Telus Sky’s “Northern Lights” light show.
Sunrises and sunsets might also be a good theme for the next large mural in Calgary.
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