Why the North East has been getting beautiful sunsets this week
Social media has been full of sunset pictures this week, with the North East sky line giving off picturesque orange colours, we spoke to the Met office about the science behind it all
If you've been on social media this week, or looked to the sky around 4pm, you'll know the North East has been experiencing some beautiful sunsets.
The orange and pink colours have captured the attention of many, but what makes it look like that? Why does it happen at this time of year? And why is this region getting so many stunning horizons right now?
We've been speaking to Tom Morgan from the Met office.
As a meteorologist he's been giving us some expert insight.
"So for a nice sunset, we generally need to have some medium and high level clouds in the sky." he told Northsound News.
"At this time of year that the sun angle as it goes down is a little less abrupt the angle of going below the horizon is a little smoother.
"So you generally get those lighting conditions lasting for a longer period of time in the autumn or winter months.
Continuing Tom told us:
"As the sun sets the light can refract off the clouds, particularly medium and medium high level clouds whereas those low clouds generally kind of tend to be quite dark and you don't get so pretty sunsets generally speaking with those clouds
"So it's just been a number of factors that have come together over the last few days that have allowed some quite interesting colors to be shown as the sun has gone down."
Low humidity and cleaner air can also contribute to the colour of the sun going down. And they are more common in winter because the earth is spinning closer to the sun, and that angle maximises the colour.
Have you spotted a particularly stunning sunset? Post your pictures to us on social media.