Shepherd's warning rings true as Hawke's Bay wakes to stunning sunrise

The sunrise brought all sorts of different colours to the morning sky. Photo / Shelley Hagen

If you managed to wake up early on Wednesday you would have seen the beautiful sunrise that graced Hawke's Bay.

But the old saying "red sky at night, sailor's delight; red sky in the morning, shepherd's warning" will ring true once again.

A MetService spokesperson says Hawke's Bay can expect some miserable weather over the next couple of days.

The views were stunning at the beach this morning. Photo / Arlene Butler

"Cloud is expected to increase later tonight with the overnight showers in the Napier region.

"Thursday will see southeasterly winds sweep across the region with off and on showers expected throughout the day in the South Napier and Hastings area."

But that isn't meant to last long as we move back into some warmer weather later in the week.

"That will all ease off into Friday as you head back into sunnier conditions."

Although the old story seems a bit simple, it does come with its truth.

If you managed to get up earlier you may have seen the darker colours before the sun rose. Photo / Nick Castle

During sunset or sunrise, the light from the sun will travel through a significant fraction of the atmosphere and ultimately the troposphere - a region that contains clouds.

There, sunlight interacts with gas molecules that are much smaller than the wavelength of light; a process physicists call Rayleigh scattering.

In this interaction, light is dispersed more effectively if its colour is blue rather than red.

The reason the sun looks red at sunset or sunrise is because most of its blue light has been scattered away during the extra-long journey through the atmosphere.