How come sometimes at night the sky is really bright?

Question

I live in southern new york and last night (technically really early this morning) at about 1 am i noticed that the sky was really bright it was like a lightesh grey color and was like if the sun was about to come up minus the orange n yellow color. i've noticed this on other nights too especially on nights when it snows

Answer 1

Lights from the city reflecting off of water or snow in the air. You'll notice it on nights with a very light rain as well.

Answer 2

Even at night in the middle of Kansas away from any cities it can get very bright out. Since your eyes adapt to the darkness, a full moon will look very bright.
I lived in East Africa for two years very far from any city. On a full moon cloudless night it was bright enough that no flashlight was needed. I took a time lapse picture of Mt Kilimanjaro on the night of a new moon. When I saw the picture I was surprised to see green grass, blue sky and gray mountain. I couldn't see those colors at all (well, maybe the gray - but everything looked gray).

Answer 3

The reflection of the snow makes the sky like that

Answer 4

Its cloudy, right? Lots of light from the local area is reflecting off of the clouds. Snow on the ground means even more light is reflected upward, lighting up the clouds.

Answer 5

Light pollution.

Answer 6

moonlight