October 29th sunset

[Joe Hardesty]

Not sure what part the solar flares played, but you can almost always count on a storm clearing just before sunset to produce sensational light effects at sunset.

If the weatherman says that storms will clear in late afternoon evening, it is your cue to grab the camera.

[MarkSaperstein]

I saw the most incredible light and colors just before sunset yesterday here in Boston, Massachusetts.  The sky was clearing after a stormy day.  There were high clouds and low fast moving clouds.  The sunlight reflecting off the low clouds and hitting the fall foliage was other-worldly.  The shades of blue in the clearing sky were unlike anything I can remember.  I did not have a camera with me.

Does anybody know if the radiation from the solar flare could have contributed to the wild colors I saw?

[BJL]

I saw some aurora photos online (at www.spaceweather.com) taken just after sunset way down in South Carolina, and they looked like "strangely enhanced sunset colours", rather than the more elaborate curtains of colour seen at very high latitudes. So you might have been seeing such an effect. My camera and I will investigate more thoroughly tonight.