iN PHOTOS: Gorgeous sunset lights up evening sky around Thompson Okanagan

From Kamloops to the South Okanagan, the evening sky was lit with the reds, oranges and pinks of a glorious sunset.

Residents captured the scenes with their cameras and were quick to post their stunning sunset photos online, Aug. 11, across the region.

READ MORE: Here's why Kamloops and Okanagan sunrises and sunsets are often so spectacular

The reason behind those beautiful beginnings and ends of the day is largely due to our mountainous terrain, said Environment Canada meteorologist Doug Lundquist, in a previous interview with iNFOnews.ca.

“We get cloud coming in bands into the interior. The mountains get in the way and break the cloud up. It’s kind of like shrapnel,” he said.

When a weather system hits the coast, it remains intact, but by the time it gets to us, it’s been torn apart by the mountains in between.

The spectacular colours such as those seen last night are due to the sun rising or setting, shining up from below the mountains onto the surface of the clouds. Sunlight is being filtered through “a lot of atmosphere” at that point, and that gives the bottom of our valley clouds their reddish hue, he said.

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