South Dakota skies turn sickly green as derecho hits the Upper Midwest

Light refracting from the sun could have led to the green glow

Skies in Sioux Falls, South Dakota turned a wicked shade of green on Tuesday as a powerful storm pushed through.

Photos shared on social media documented the eerie phenomenon, with cloud-darkened skies whipping up a nearly photosynthetic hue.

A National Weather Service (NWS) meteorologist said on Twitter that thunderstorm clouds can glow green when the red light of the sun at the end of the day interacts with the water or ice content in the storm.

These types of storms can be indicative of hail, the forecaster added, which the Sioux Falls area was hit with on Tuesday.

The NWS declared the storm a derecho - which is a large and continuous event with wind speeds over 58 miles per hour (93 km/h).

Tuesday’s storm swept across South Dakota, and also impacted parts of Nebraska and Iowa.

The NWS reported that some areas saw one-inch hail with wind speeds up to 90mph (159km/h). Sioux Falls was hit with over an inch of rain.

Over 30,000 people were without power on Tuesday night in the Sioux Falls area, reports the Argus Leader. That had dropped to just around 5,000 by Wednesday morning.

The impact of the climate crisis on derechos remains unclear. However some scientists think there’s a possible connection between intensifying derechos and hotter temperatures caused by the climate crisis, theWashington Post recently reported.

Thunderstorms generally could get more intense across much of the country as the climate crisis worsens, due to more heat and water trapped in the atmosphere.

The US Environmental Protection Agency has said that an increasing percentage of rain now falls during “heavy precipitation” days, meaning more intense storms.