# Why is the sky bright at night when it snows?

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-the-sky-bright-at-night-when-it-snows/151125>\
**Category:** Factual Questions\
**Created:** [January 27, 2003, 12:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-the-sky-bright-at-night-when-it-snows/151125 "2003-01-27T00:51:35Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 4\
**Page:** 1

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![Guinastasia](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/guinastasia/32/5751_2.png) [@Guinastasia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Guinastasia)\
**Post date:** [January 27, 2003, 12:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-the-sky-bright-at-night-when-it-snows/151125/1 "2003-01-27T00:51:35Z")

</div>

Surely I’m not the only one who has noticed this. When it snows at night, I’ve seen that the sky is really a bright grey, and you can see much better than when it’s not snowing. What’s up with that?

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![Hanna](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/b3f665/32.png) [@Hanna](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hanna)\
**Post date:** [January 27, 2003, 12:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-the-sky-bright-at-night-when-it-snows/151125/2 "2003-01-27T00:54:08Z")

</div>

I think it’s because snow means there will be cloud cover, clouds reflect lights better than the clear sky.

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![sailor](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/a587f6/32.png) [@sailor](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/sailor)\
**Post date:** [January 27, 2003, 12:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-the-sky-bright-at-night-when-it-snows/151125/3 "2003-01-27T00:55:14Z")

</div>

Also when it is foggy or cloudy: The city lights are reflected back by the fog, snow etc. A clear sky does not reflect the light back.

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![Squink](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/b5e925/32.png) [@Squink](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Squink)\
**Post date:** [January 27, 2003, 1:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-the-sky-bright-at-night-when-it-snows/151125/4 "2003-01-27T01:09:47Z")

</div>

Also, fresh snow reflects something like 88% of the light that hits it back into the air, where it can illuminate the underside of the clouds.