Why is the sky blue?

There are a few factors that contribute to why our sky is blue on a sunny day.

☀️ First of all, the light from the sun is made out of many different wavelengths and colours,
☀️ When the sunlight reaches our atmosphere, it is scattered in different directions by the tiny molecules of the gases and particles in the air.
☀️ Because the colour blue has the shortest and smallest waves, it tends to scatter more than all of the other colours and that is why the sky is blue most of the time!

How does a weather satellite help with weather forecasting?

Satellites help meteorologists and forecasters observe what is happening in the atmosphere via a bird’s eye view.

There are two types of weather satellite systems:

Polar orbiting - these satellites orbit around the earth in their north-south orbits and observe the same spot on Earth twice daily to provide imagery and atmospheric soundings of temperatures and moisture data of our whole planet.

Geostationary - these satellites are in orbit about 35000km above the equator and they spin at the same rate of the Earth. They are constantly focused on the same area. This enables the satellite to take a picture of the Earth, at the same location, every half hour.

Hello Autumn

Happy first full day of Fall!!! Yesterday the fall equinox was officially at 6:30am in Kelowna. The time of the equinox does vary depending on your location.

🍂 What is the fall equinox?

"Equinox" means "equal night”.

🌍 If you’re in the Northern Hemisphere, the fall equinox is always in September, but if you’re in the Southern Hemisphere, the fall equinox is always in March.

🌍 The September equinox is when the sun moves from north to south across the line in the sky above the Earth’s equator.

🌍 Although the length of day and night are both around 12 hours, most places do not have exactly equal daytime and nighttime on the day of the equinox.