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Curiosities: Is a ‘red sky at morning’ really a warning?

What is the origin of the saying, “Red sky at morning, sailorĂ¢??s warning; red sky at night, sailorĂ¢??s delight”? Does a red sky in the morning actually foretell a storm?

“Long before computers and the Weather Channel, humans needed weather forecasts,” says Steve Ackerman, a UW-Madison professor of oceanic and atmospheric sciences. “Farmers and sailors in particular needed to know if storms were approaching.”