Any way of telling if clouds will glow?

[oleg_boldyrev]

Hi. Bit of a theoretical question, but I wonder if anyone knows a more or less

sure way of predicting good dramatic lighting on the clouds (see sample

attached). I know it's very general - clouds are different in shape and

altitude, but I am puzzled by the fact that several times having good juicy

clouds and (obviously) a good open setting sun I did not observe anything

spectacular. I would be grateful for your comments.<div></div>

[tim parkin]

not sure if this helps but I find wearing a good pair of sunglasses works brilliantly .. I have a pair of oakley gold coated that give me a good indication of what the sky will look like (I don't know why this is but it seems to work).

[dave wyman]

Me, I prefer not being able to make such predictions. For me, predictability equals boredom.

 

That said:

 

- More dust in the sky often means more colorful sunsets. Therefore, after a rainstorm, the sky is often too clean to create a colorful sunset.

 

- Volcanic dust can produce colorful sunrises and sunsets. The exception: Mt. Pinatubo kept putting so much dust in the air that colorful skies - particularly the phenomenom known as alpinglow, were absent for some time, until the dust settled (which took a couple of years!).

 

- Wait at least 20 minutes after the actual sunset - color can suddenly appear.

 

- Even when the sky seems socked in with weather, colorful skies can appear for a few minutes, when the sun dips between the clouds and the horizon.<div></div>

[dave wyman]

Opps, the above is a snow pillar over Mono Lake. Here's the Barstow image.<div></div>

[alex_lofquist]

Probably, if they are radioactive.

[kahkityoong]

I have found that having clouds appearing low on the horizon often yields impressive colours, even thin anemic looking ones. If you have space between the ones on the horizon and some cloud cover above, there is a high chance of glowing clouds.