What does a bright orange sky during a thunderstorm mean?

Question

The sky is BRIGHT orange all over its like lighting up my windows, its normally getting dark around now. We are having a thunderstorm but not a severe one and its supposed to get worse tonight. Whats with this?

Answer 1

the sky turns different colors depending on the severity of the storm. yellow and green are really bad and orange is REALLY REALLY bad. the color comes from the hail inside the clouds. hail is caused by strong updrafts in the clouds, so more hail=worse storm. hail bends sunlight towards the yellow, green, or orange end of the spectrum. the more hail there is, the more the light is bent. orange means the light is bent a lot, which means there's a lot of hail, which means it is a really really bad storm.

were the clouds all lumpy on the bottom? that also means that it's a really really bad storm. usually lumpy clouds are orange. either way, get to the basement!!!

Answer 2

that is actually happening here. im in greenwood indiana and im wondering the same thing. ive never seen this before. now there is HUGE bolts of lightning