The old adage “a red sky at night is a sailor’s delight” has likely gotten more than its fair share of play lately, thanks to a recent string of stunning sunsets around town (that might seem like Mother Nature taunting the Broncos).

There are a couple of reasons that sunsets have been so beautiful, but a certain cloud has been especially helpful in setting Front Range skies on fire in recent weeks.

Since we’re lucky enough to live in the shadow of the Rockies, we see mountain wave clouds, also known as lenticular clouds, on a regular basis. These clouds are caused by stable air being forced up and over the mountains, creating turbulent bumps on the lee (downwind) side of the mountains, and it's those bumps that create enough rising motion to cause mountain wave clouds. The mild weather we've experienced lately contributes to this type of cloud development.