Why did South Dakota’s sky turn green?

A weather phenomenon blanketed South Dakota turning the sky an otherworldly color of green.

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A derecho, or a powerful windstorm, moved through the Sioux Falls area, stretching more than 240 miles and bringing winds up to 99 miles per hour, The New York Times reported.

Before the storm pounded the region, the sky turned green.

The Sioux Falls Argus Leader called the color “not a light green — the green that’s the color of the sky before aliens arrive in a Jerry Bruckheimer movie. Or before the Wicked Witch of the West threatens Dorothy and her little dog, too.”

While it may have been strange to see green instead of grey or blue sky above, it isn’t uncommon.

Storms can cause the sky to change various colors including purple or completely dark.

Scientific American said it can happen when the storm occurs at a time of red light, like sunset, and the water particles in the air can make slightly green color. It also may be the gray clouds that bend red light to change the sky’s color.

Sometimes the green hue can indicate a large amount of hail, the National Weather Service told the Times, but not this storm. There were scattered reports of hail — one piece was about an inch, a second was 2.75 inches or about the size of a baseball.

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