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Rule Fire Sky

Arches - Fire Sky - US Southwest

Moab, Utah, United States

Those rare, intensely red and orange sunset skies

No opportunities right now
Here’s what usually blocks matches

No Fire Sky opportunities in the next 14 days

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Rule requirements (key thresholds)
Golden Hour · Any Fiery Red Sky Potential · ≥ 65.0% Precipitation Chance · ≤ 15.0% Visibility · ≥ 8000.0m

Tip: Scroll down to the 72-hour table to see exactly which condition fails hour by hour.

Most common blockers (next 72 hours)
Fiery Red Sky Potential 96% failing
Golden Hour 83% failing
Precipitation Chance 42% failing

Currently

Real-time conditions
Fiery Red Sky Potential
0%
Low Cloud Cover0%
Mid Cloud Cover0%
High Cloud Cover97%
Aerosol Optical Depth0.1
Sun Elevation10.1° (Daylight)

Upcoming Opportunities

When all conditions match, PhotoWeather marks an opportunity window.

Times shown in America/Denver

No opportunities in the next 10 days

See the blocker timeline below to understand which conditions are preventing matches.

What this forecast looks for

Plain-language explanation from the rule

This forecast tracks the spectacular sunset conditions that ignite the Southwest's desert landscapes. We combine cloud coverage patterns, atmospheric particulate levels, and visibility data to predict when skies will explode with dramatic color over the region's iconic formations.

The Southwest's desert atmosphere creates fire-sky conditions unlike anywhere else in North America. Fine dust particles suspended in the dry air scatter light dramatically, while the region's distinctive red rock formations amplify and reflect sunset colors. Monsoon season brings additional drama with towering storm clouds catching golden light.

What makes the Southwest special for fire-sky photography:

  • Desert dust advantage - Fine particulate matter creates intense color scattering without haze
  • Red rock amplification - Sandstone formations reflect and intensify sunset colors
  • Monsoon drama - July-September storms create towering cloud formations lit from below
  • Slot canyon magic - Narrow canyons like Antelope glow with reflected light during golden hour

Monument Valley's mesas silhouetted against burning skies create legendary images—the combination of towering buttes and horizontal color bands is quintessential Southwest. Slot canyons like Antelope near Page become luminous during fire-sky conditions, with reflected light painting smooth sandstone walls. The hoodoos at Bryce Canyon catch alpenglow while valleys below fill with shadow. During monsoon season, clearing storms produce the most dramatic conditions—dark storm clouds lit from below by setting sun over red desert create apocalyptic beauty. White Sands offers unique opportunities where pure gypsum dunes reflect fire-sky colors with mirror-like intensity.

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72-hour requirements breakdown

What passed or failed, hour by hour
1matching hours in the next 79 hoursJump to next match
AND logic: all conditions required
Meets requirement
Misses requirement
Time
America/Denver
Golden Hour
Any
Fiery Red Sky Potential
≥ 65.0%
Precipitation Chance
≤ 15.0%
Visibility
≥ 8000.0m
Sat, May 23
23:00✕29%0%24135m
Sun, May 24
24:00✕21%0%24134m
01:00✕6.9%0%24135m
02:00✕6.7%0%24134m
03:00✕6.7%0%24134m
04:00✕7.1%0%24135m
05:00✓8.6%0%24134m
06:00✓96%0%24135m
07:00✕28%0%24135m
08:00✕30%0%24135m
09:00✕28%0%24134m
10:00✕34%0%24134m
11:00✕31%0%24134m
12:00✕29%0%24134m
13:00✕30%0%24135m
14:00✕34%0%24134m
15:00✕30%0%24135m
16:00✕36%0%24134m
17:00✕19%0%24135m
18:00✕36%0%24135m
19:00✓13%0%24135m
20:00✓40%0%24135m
21:00✕94%0%24135m
22:00✕32%0%24134m
23:00✕11%0%24134m
Mon, May 25
24:00✕23%0%24134m
01:00✕25%0%24135m
02:00✕29%0%24134m
03:00✕30%0%24135m
04:00✕42%0%24135m
05:00✓41%0%24134m
06:00✓27%0%24135m
07:00✕14%15%24134m
08:00✕13%30%24134m
09:00✕28%45%24134m
10:00✕34%47%24134m
11:00✕44%48%24135m
12:00✕29%50%24134m
13:00✕33%39%24135m
14:00✕32%29%24134m
15:00✕6.9%18%24135m
16:00✕31%21%24134m
17:00✕6%25%24134m
18:00✕6.8%28%24135m
19:00✓18%32%24134m
20:00✓36%35%24135m
21:00✕53%39%24134m
22:00✕31%48%24134m
23:00✕7.4%57%24134m
Tue, May 26
24:00✕6.1%65%24135m
01:00✕6.3%61%24134m
02:00✕7.2%57%24135m
03:00✕29%52%24134m
04:00✕28%59%17706m
05:00✓29%66%22419m
06:00✓39%73%14471m
07:00✕32%61%23998m
08:00✕32%49%24135m
09:00✕9.4%38%24135m
10:00✕6.8%38%24134m
11:00✕36%38%24135m
12:00✕32%38%24134m
13:00✕0%25%24134m
14:00✕0%13%24135m
15:00✕0%0%24135m
16:00✕0%0%24135m
17:00✕0%0%24135m
18:00✕0%0%24135m
19:00✓0%0%24135m
20:00✓8%0%24135m
21:00✕70%0%24135m
22:00✕0%0%24135m
23:00✕0%0%24135m
Wed, May 27
24:00✕0%0%24135m
01:00✕0%0%24135m
02:00✕0%0%24135m
03:00✕0%0%24135m
04:00✕0%0%24135m
05:00✓0%0%24135m
How to read: colored cells show whether each predicate requirement is met; highlighted rows mean the full rule matched (an opportunity).

What does Fiery Red Sky Potential mean?

Inputs that drive the score

This derived score summarizes multiple raw weather signals. The table below shows the supporting inputs hour by hour, so you can see what's pushing the score up or down.

Time
America/Denver
Aerosol Optical Depth (550nm)
Clear Sky Probability (Ensemble)
%
Cloud Cover Uncertainty (Ensemble)
%
Dust AOD (550nm)
Golden Hour
High Clouds
%
Low Clouds
%
Mid-Level Clouds
%
RH @ 700 hPa
%
Smoke AOD (550nm)
Solar Elevation
°
Sunshine Duration
seconds
Sun, May 24 Sunrise 05:59 Sunset 20:30
07:00
0.12 89% 13% 0.02 - 97% 0% 0% 34% 0.02 10° 0seconds
08:00
0.12 87% 15% 0.02 - 69% 0% 3% 34% 0.02 21° 0seconds
09:00
0.12 86% 17% 0.02 - 9% 0% 4% 34% 0.02 33° 3600seconds
10:00
0.12 79% 17% 0.02 - 7% 0% 3% 33% 0.02 45° 3600seconds
11:00
0.12 71% 18% 0.02 - 24% 0% 4% 32% 0.02 56° 3600seconds
12:00
0.12 64% 18% 0.02 - 10% 0% 4% 31% 0.02 66° 3600seconds
13:00
0.12 43% 17% 0.02 - 5% 0% 16% 29% 0.02 72° 3600seconds
14:00
0.13 22% 16% 0.02 - 5% 0% 6% 28% 0.02 70° 3600seconds
15:00
0.12 1% 15% 0.02 - 82% 0% 44% 27% 0.02 61° 3600seconds
16:00
0.11 1% 14% 0.02 - 95% 0% 78% 26% 0.02 51° 3600seconds
17:00
0.1 0% 13% 0.02 - 44% 0% 8% 26% 0.02 39° 3600seconds
18:00 ☾
0.09 0% 12% 0.02 - 9% 0% 1% 26% 0.01 27° 3600seconds
19:00 ☾
0.09 19% 16% 0.02 - 4% 0% 0% 25% 0.01 16° 3600seconds
20:00 ☾
0.08 39% 21% 0.02 - 5% 0% 13% 23% 0.01 4.8° 3600seconds
21:00 ☾
0.07 58% 25% 0.02 - 5% 0% 48% 22% 0.01 -5.7° 3600seconds
22:00 ☾
0.07 55% 24% 0.02 - 4% 0% 62% 23% 0.009 -15° 0seconds
23:00 ☾
0.07 53% 22% 0.02 - 5% 0% 21% 24% 0.009 -23° 0seconds
Mon, May 25 Sunrise 05:59 Sunset 20:31
24:00 ☾
0.07 50% 21% 0.02 - 5% 0% 5% 26% 0.009 -28° 0seconds
01:00 ☾
0.07 41% 25% 0.02 - 18% 0% 93% 26% 0.009 -30° 0seconds
02:00 ☾
0.08 31% 30% 0.01 - 42% 0% 3% 27% 0.009 -30° 0seconds
03:00 ☾
0.09 22% 34% 0.01 - 77% 0% 5% 28% 0.009 -26° 0seconds
04:00 ☾
0.1 16% 30% 0.01 - 97% 0% 13% 27% 0.009 -19° 0seconds
05:00 ☾
0.11 11% 27% 0.01 - 100% 0% 4% 27% 0.009 -10° 0seconds
06:00
0.11 5% 23% 0.02 - 5% 0% 5% 26% 0.009 -0.17° 0seconds
07:00
- 5% 23% - - 4% 0% 5% 27% - 10° 0seconds
08:00
- 5% 23% - - 35% 0% 1% 28% - 21° 0seconds
09:00
- 5% 23% - - 99% 0% 19% 29% - 33° 3600seconds
10:00
- 4% 21% - - 93% 0% 46% 31% - 45° 3600seconds
11:00
- 2% 18% - - 63% 0% 5% 34% - 56° 3600seconds
12:00
- 1% 16% - - 47% 0% 77% 36% - 66° 3600seconds
13:00
- 1% 11% - - 56% 0% 46% 41% - 72° 3600seconds
14:00
- 0% 7% - - 100% 0% 66% 46% - 70° 3600seconds
15:00
- 0% 2% - - 81% 35% 100% 51% - 62° 3600seconds
16:00
- 0% 3% - - 95% 7% 30% 54% - 51° 3600seconds
17:00
- 0% 3% - - 100% 5% 96% 57% - 39° 3600seconds
18:00 ☾
- 0% 4% - - 100% 10% 89% 61% - 27° 3600seconds
19:00 ☾
- 0% 7% - - 100% 16% 68% 58% - 16° 0seconds
20:00 ☾
- 1% 9% - - 71% 2% 25% 56% - 4.9° 0seconds
21:00 ☾
- 1% 12% - - 85% 1% 4% 54% - -5.5° 0seconds
22:00 ☾
- 1% 11% - - 100% 8% 50% 57% - -15° 0seconds
23:00 ☾
- 0% 11% - - 100% 1% 39% 60% - -22° 0seconds
Tue, May 26 Sunrise 05:58 Sunset 20:32
24:00 ☾
- 0% 10% - - 100% 1% 97% 63% - -28° 0seconds
01:00 ☾
- 1% 13% - - 100% 3% 82% 64% - -30° 0seconds
02:00 ☾
- 2% 15% - - 100% 2% 12% 65% - -29° 0seconds
03:00 ☾
- 3% 18% - - 68% 2% 5% 66% - -25° 0seconds
04:00 ☾
- 3% 18% - - 57% 1% 53% 68% - -19° 0seconds
05:00 ☾
- 2% 18% - - 100% 1% 70% 70% - -10° 0seconds
06:00
- 2% 18% - - 100% 0% 30% 72% - 0.007° 0seconds
07:00
- 5% 22% - - 100% 0% 89% 74% - 10° 0seconds
08:00
- 9% 26% - - 22% 0% 43% 75% - 22° 0seconds
09:00
- 12% 30% - - 16% 0% 9% 76% - 33° 3600seconds
10:00
- 11% 28% - - 99% 2% 99% 77% - 45° 3600seconds
11:00
- 10% 27% - - 65% 3% 20% 77% - 56° 3600seconds
12:00
- 9% 25% - - 1% 34% 83% 78% - 66° 3600seconds
13:00
- 6% 22% - - 0% 23% 57% 74% - 72° 3600seconds
14:00
- 4% 20% - - 0% 11% 31% 69% - 70° 3600seconds
15:00
- 1% 17% - - 0% 0% 4% 65% - 62° 3600seconds
16:00
- 1% 16% - - 0% 0% 32% 59% - 51° 2400seconds
17:00
- 0% 15% - - 0% 0% 61% 53% - 39° 1200seconds
18:00 ☾
- 0% 14% - - 0% 0% 89% 48% - 28° 0seconds
19:00 ☾
- 11% 17% - - 31% 0% 59% 43% - 16° 0seconds
20:00 ☾
- 23% 21% - - 61% 0% 30% 39% - 5° 0seconds
21:00 ☾
- 34% 24% - - 92% 0% 0% 35% - -5.4° 0seconds
22:00 ☾
- 39% 24% - - 63% 0% 0% 32% - -15° 0seconds
23:00 ☾
- 45% 24% - - 34% 0% 0% 28% - -22° 0seconds
Wed, May 27 Sunrise 05:58 Sunset 20:33
24:00 ☾
- 50% 24% - - 4% 0% 0% 25% - -28° 0seconds
01:00 ☾
- 52% 26% - - 5% 0% 0% 29% - -30° 1200seconds
02:00 ☾
- 54% 29% - - 5% 0% 0% 33% - -29° 2400seconds
03:00 ☾
- 56% 31% - - 5% 0% 0% 37% - -25° 3600seconds
04:00 ☾
- 60% 29% - - 5% 0% 0% 33% - -19° 3600seconds
05:00 ☾
- 64% 28% - - 5% 0% 0% 30% - -10° 3600seconds
06:00
- 68% 26% - - 4% 0% 0% 26% - 0.08° 3600seconds
How to read: these inputs help produce the derived score; they are not requirements by themselves.

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