a certain shade of blue

After the sun has sunk beneath the horizon, the winter sky turns a certain shade of blue.

The waning light of the sun seems to create a blue layered under turquoise and over deeper shades of black. In the incomplete world of Crayola colors, the best name for it is midnight blue. This shade is the sun’s last hurrah before giving the sky over to night and blackness and starlight. If my memory is correct, this isn’t specific to the winter months, but when snow covers the ground and each breath hangs in the air, there’s a certain magic that dances through the skies at this time of night.

It’s a time of day when I feel like if I close my eyes and breathe in deeply and then slowly exhale, I might become absorbed into the blue. It would be like coming home.

Having lived in other parts of the country, it seems that skies of this color are very particular to the upper Midwest although I couldn’t say with certainty that the Northwest and Northeast don’t enjoy similarly beautiful night skies. Perhaps it’s because of how far north these states are or because of the relative absence of artificial light or because of how clean the air is. Regardless of the reason, night skies here are full of a beauty and majesty that’s leaves me in awe.

These photos may not capture this perfectly, but for a glimpse of this blue, you can go here or here or here or here.