Sunsets. On average, they happen about once a day, and usually pass without much comment other than ‘huh, that’s nice’.
But yesterday, Sydney was treated to some actual, honest-to-god purple rain spectacular.
@cityofsydney beautiful one minute, spectacular the next #SydneyStorm pic.twitter.com/SlVrzqBi2T
— #meetmagic (@Goughy30) February 19, 2017
Storms have been hammering the NSW capital all weekend. On Saturday, the city was pelted with hail the size of tennis balls, but on Sunday, the city was treated to a post-thunder storm haze of IRL purple rain.
Prince – may his beautiful soul rest in peace – once explained the meaning of his most famous song as: “When there’s blood in the sky – red and blue = purple … purple rain pertains to the end of the world and being with the one you love and letting your faith/god guide you through the purple rain.”
Insanely beautiful skies are part of the post-thunderstorm deal, but usually they stick to orange hues. That’s because most thunderstorms occur in the late afternoon, and shorter wavelengths of light (i.e. the blue tones) are scattered quickly, leaving only the yellow-orange-red end of the spectrum.
And sure, we had some of that last night, too.
Today’s sunset after some rain over here in Sydney ???? pic.twitter.com/W10rd3TStB
— ???? ???? (@zliquidmyth) February 19, 2017
But the purple skies, and in some parts of the city, actual purple rain, was a special treat.
A few scattered storms align with a sunset to produce an eerie glow across Sydney’s sky. #SydneyStorm pic.twitter.com/cfXJp02yCl
— Daniel Shaw (@DanielShawAU) February 19, 2017
We’ve put in a request to the Bureau of Meteorology to find out why this phenomenon occurred, but until then, just enjoy the extreme aesthetics of Sydney last night.
Enjoy the sunset from Watsons Bay, the perfect location in Sydney’s east to relax. #ilovesydney
?? IG/svendsania pic.twitter.com/3sevRZlZBD— Sydney.com (@sydney_sider) February 16, 2017
Photo: Melissa Mason / Instagram.
