‘Orange’ moon seen across Colorado on Monday night, here’s why

DENVER ( KDVR ) — Smoke from an out-of-state wildfire caused Colorado skies to look hazy on Monday, and the effects of the smoke continued into the night.

FOX31 viewers across the Front Range reported seeing an orange-looking moon Monday night into the early hours Tuesday morning.

Here’s what it looked like in Como, south of Breckenridge, where “the moon was absolutely that orange,” according to one viewer.

According to the National Weather Service in Boulder, the moon looked orange because of the wildfire smoke that was coming from fires in western Canada as well as fires in Washington and Oregon.

“There’s a lot of wildfire smoke over the whole northern part of the country,” said an NWS spokesperson.

According to the spokesperson, when there’s a lot of smoke in the air, the color of the moon appears to change.

“The color changes because of the light passing through the smoke,” said the spokesperson.

The moon most likely looks orange wherever there’s smoke, said the spokesperson. Likely, the moon looked orange all over the country on Monday night.

The smoke from the wildfires continues into Tuesday, causing the Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment to issue an ozone action day alert across the Front Range until Tuesday afternoon.

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