JACKSONVILLE, Fla – Some people call them god rays or sunbeams, but meteorologists know it is going to be a nice start to the day when crepuscular rays shine early in the morning.
Did you see the sunrise Tuesday morning over Jacksonville Beach? Just before the sun rose, rays of sunlight shot over the horizon. Very noticeable darker shadow rays formed where low clouds blocked sunshine before the sun broke the horizon.
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Light called crepuscular rays, appear to converge from the point in the sky where the sun is located and can occur at any time of the day.
But those rays fanning out at different angles are actually an illusion -- they are truly parallel!
Perspective alters your reality in the same way railroad tracks or long roads appear to converge in the distance.
While skies are clear over Jacksonville, often stratocumulus clouds over the Gulf stream develop over the warm Gulf stream situated 60 miles from our shore.
At this distance, the sun is still below the horizon but some tops of clouds can just barely break the horizon allowing streams through openings in clouds of sunlit air particles separated by darker cloud-shadowed columns.
Their vivid appearance results from the same phenomenon that generates orange-red sunrise and sunsets.
The angle of early or late daylight means it travels through up to 40 times more atmosphere compared to midday sun. Shorter wavelengths are scattered out in blue and green light leaving an abundance of yellow and red.