Red sky at night, sailor’s delight

I've heard the saying, "red sky at night, sailor's delight, red sky in the morning, sailor's warning" several times before, and kinda had it in the back of my mind that it's never seemed to ring true for Cape Town.

I received an excited call from a colleague on Wednesday evening saying that I should really look outside and take a photo of the setting sun. So I grabbed my camera, drove to a viewpoint, and snapped this beautifully cloudy red sunset (click the photo to see the big version).

The following day's weather was terrible - it rained buckets in the morning. This led me to think of the saying, and how it should have been a "sailor's delight". Today, Friday, I type this post as the sun is setting. The sky is again a brilliant red hue, so I just took a look at WeatherSA and guess what I found? Saturday:"Cloudy, rain mainly afternoon (60%)"!

So I'm thinking that perhaps the saying should go "red sky at night (in Cape Town), sailor's warning, red sky in the morning (in Cape Town) sailor's delight". Our red-sky mornings really do turn into beautiful days. :)