We've gotten a little bit of rain in Western New York this week, but if you have been lucky enough to see a sunset, they've been incredible - here's why...A ball of dust from the Saharan Desert.

That is the reason for the incredible sunsets.  The sunrises are the same.

There is an enormous ball of dust that is blowing into the United States this week and it' began in the Sahara Desert.  According to The Smithsonian, it's a phenomenon known as the Saharan Air Layer where winds will carry metric tons of dust across the Atlantic Coast.

This happens every year.  Normally it's around 800 million metric tons of dust to be exact.  But the reason that this one stands out so much is the size and the visible impact that it produces - you can see it from space!

Here's how it looks up there:

But what does that have to do with sunrises and sunsets?  Wouldn't the cloud of dust block the sun?

During the day they say that the skies might seem a little more dark or hazy, but in the evening, because the dust is mostly high in the atmosphere it will give the sun's rays a lot of opportunity to be scattered by the dust particles and will therefore create some very colorful skies in the morning and evening.

Don't forget, we love pictures.  If you get some great pictures of sunsets this week feel free to share them with us through our free WYRK App or on Twitter @1065WYRK.

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