Originally published June 9, 2009 at 12:30 PM | Page modified June 9, 2009 at 5:10 PM

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B.C forest fire means beautiful sunsets in Seattle

The unusual sunset seen in the Seattle area Monday night was caused by smoke blowing down from a forest fire in British Columbia.

By Jean Guerrero

Seattle Times staff reporter

See Monday's sunset? Submit your photos here

The sunset Monday evening caught the attention of more than just the average romantic.

A hazy, orange glow pervaded the atmosphere, and some residents said they could look straight at the sun because of the number of layers of "stuff" in front of it.

According to the National Weather Service, the somewhat unusual sunset was caused by smoke blowing in from a wildfire near Lillooet in British Columbia. Roughly 200 miles north of Seattle, the fire has been raging since May 29.

Johnny Burg, a meteorologist with the Weather Service in Seattle, said smoke particles absorb and scatter light in a way that can make sunsets look particularly striking.

He said wind had been blowing south to north in recent days, but began blowing north to south on Monday. He said the wind is bringing the smoke into Seattle, and it will probably result in another unusual sunset tonight.

Jean Guerrero: 206-464-2311 or jguerrero@seattletimes.com

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Comments (29)

What, no picture of the sunset included in the article? :) Posted on June 9, 2009 at 12:56 PM by megs2323. Jump to comment

While the carbon based macro-particulate count was unusually high during the previous nocturnal session, we do not anticipate any after-effects on... Posted on June 9, 2009 at 3:54 PM by Zoltar Omicron Eight. Jump to comment

I saw the glowing red ball against a smokey sky coming back from Vancouver last night and pulled over in Blaine to watch it for several minutes. It... Posted on June 9, 2009 at 1:01 PM by jack69. Jump to comment

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