Grand Junction fire smoke stream,

[230RN]

 terminator approaching Colorado, lights coming on in Oklahoma City and Tulsa:

https://www.star.nesdis.noaa.gov/GOES/sector_band.php?sat=G16&sector=nr&band=GEOCOLOR&length=12

This is the new animated satellite view of Northern Rockies.  Can see the smoke stream from Grand Junction fire, 51,000 acres, streaming over Denver (cough, cough).

Grand Junction is near the western border, the smoke stream is heading East by Northeast.

Kind of fascinating to watch.

Will probably be one heck of a red sunrise tomorrow.  Last big fire the sunrise was pretty close to blood red.

Terry

[RoadKingLarry]

Interesting to see but at the time you posted it shows me to be behind the terminator and local sunset is 1943, still daylight here.

[Ben]

As long as he's not approaching with a phased plasma rifle in the 40 watt range...

[230RN]

Hm.  I vaguely recall seeing anomalies like that without really paying attention and investigating further.  I'll keep an eye out for stuff like that, but it's not like the only thing I do is watch that animation.

Are you sure it's still "daylight," and not the whatchamacallit, "gloaming?"  The terminator isn't a real sharp line unless you look at it from a couple of thousand miles out.

I have a hard time with "sunsets" here because we're behind the mountains as far as the sun is concerned. The leading edge of the terminator is just approaching Denver now (7:01-ish)and you can see the city lights in the animation.  Yet according to this...

https://forecast.weather.gov/MapClick.php?lat=39.7836&lon=-105.1675&unit=0&lg=english&FcstType=graphical

...mechanical sunset isn't until about 7:50.  Ish.  And it still looks like daytime out there.

[RoadKingLarry]

Yes, the sun is still visible in the sky.

[230RN]

I'm wondering if the long shadows of late afternoon keep more and more  light from being reflected from the ground  toward the satellite, resulting in a gradually increasing darkening even though the sun is still visible to thee and me.

I imagine with no atmosphere and a billiard-ball smooth surface, the terminator would approach a sharp line except for diffraction and the fact that the sun is not a point source.

Right now, you can see the terminator swoop across the state.