Volcanic ash dusts Houston skyline with purple haze

Sunsets in the Houston-area have been especially vibrant lately. Volcanic ash from Russia has given the sky a purple haze. Sunsets in the Houston-area have been especially vibrant lately. Volcanic ash from Russia has given the sky a purple haze. Photo: Melissa Aguilar, Houston Chronicle / Staff Photo: Melissa Aguilar, Houston Chronicle / Staff Image 1 of / 20 Caption Close Volcanic ash dusts Houston skyline with purple haze 1 / 20 Back to Gallery

As Houston recovered from days of torrential rains, Alex Palmer saw a purple sunset he described as “an exceptional display of light and color,” Saturday in the Third Ward.

Others took notice of the purple skies over Houston, too. Online, recent sunsets in the city have been deemed “gnarly,” “epic,” “breathtaking” and “crazy.” A digital photographer described one as a “cotton candy sunset.” Another was inspired to declare “Houston is magical.”

But Russia — really a volcano that erupted there — is to thank for the purple sunsets, the National Weather Service says.

A purple haze has streaked across skies all over the world since the volcano called Raikoke in the Kuril Islands in Russia’s Sakhalin Oblast region erupted June 22. It had remained dormant for more than a century until then.

Ash and debris blasted out of the volcano’s nearly half a mile-wide opening 10 miles into the sky, reaching the stratosphere. The event was so big it could be seen by astronauts on the International Space Station, NASA officials said.

“What happens when a powerful volcano erupts is it ejects chemicals and other particles in the atmosphere,” said Jimmy Fowler, a meteorologist with the National Weather Service’s Galveston office.

On HoustonChronicle.com: Saharan dust covers Houston, clouds skies

The particles causing people to see purple light rays are sulfur dioxide gas, Fowler said.

The gas is not harmful at all, the meteorologist said. “It just looks pretty.”

Photographs of magenta skies over Buffalo Bayou, of moons rising into deep amethyst nights, and of the city’s downtown skyscrapers illuminated by periwinkle sunsets have graced social media for weeks.

A purple sunset last month made the perfect backdrop for Instagram user cirqueduzoleil’s photo announcing her adoption of a new puppy.

“King is the newest member of our little family, and this sunset from our (backyard) just makes the best ending to a day,” she wrote in the caption of a photo of her and the dog under a fiery mauve cluster of clouds.

Palmer said Tuesday he was surprised to learn why the sky he captured in his Instagram post displayed such vivid colors.

“That’s wild,” he said. “I had heard pollution makes nice sunsets, but didn’t think about natural pollution doing that as well.”

hannah.dellinger@chron.com