Weather Words: Golden Hour

There’s a moment each day when everything looks a little softer and warmer, like the world is being filtered through honey and gold. It doesn’t last long, but when it arrives, even the ordinary feels extraordinary.

Photographers call it the golden hour, but you don’t need a camera to appreciate its magic. It’s that fleeting window of time just after sunrise or before sunset when the sun sits low in the sky, casting long shadows and bathing the world in a soft, amber glow. The light feels almost cinematic, making everything from city streets to mountaintops look a little more beautiful.

What makes the golden hour so special is the angle of the sunlight. When the sun is low on the horizon, its rays travel through more of Earth’s atmosphere. Shorter blue wavelengths scatter out, leaving behind the longer red, orange, and yellow tones we associate with warm light. Shadows stretch out and even the air can take on a dreamy quality, especially if there’s haze, mist, or dust to catch the light.

This effect is even more noticeable around the summer solstice, when the sun takes a slower arc across the sky, making sunrises and sunsets feel longer and more lingering. Whether you’re capturing a perfect photo or just soaking in the view, golden hour is a daily reminder that sometimes, the most beautiful moments are also the most brief.

Jennifer Gray is a weather and climate writer for weather.com. She has been covering some of the world's biggest weather and climate stories for the last two decades.