PHOTOS: Florida sky turns purple after Hurricane Dorian

JACKSONVILLE, Fla. (FOX 35 ORLANDO) - Skies in some parts of Florida turned a beautiful shade of purple after Hurricane Dorian passed offshore of the coast. 

Images from residents were shared across social media. Many expressed relief that Florida was spared major damage from the powerful storm that was originally forecast to make landfall in the state.

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"Our little piece of Florida survived Hurricane Dorian and we were rewarded with this GORGEOUS purple sky tonight!! 😍" wrote Instagram user @crafty.rn from St. Augustine. 

Amy Pope-Latham posted a similar photo of the skies in Jacksonville showing off the unique hue.

"Purple skies after #Dorian passed by Jacksonville today. Do you think there's a chance Dorian was a fan of Prince?" she wrote on Twitter.

Fox 35 meteorologist Jayme King explains how the phenomenon occurs. 

"So the purple looking sky is due to 'refraction' or sunlight rays bouncing off of the clouds in the picture. Depending on how the light is refracted and the position of the sun will dictate the part of the color spectrum represented."

Hurricane Dorian caused massive destruction in the Bahamas as a Category 5 storm, the strongest hurricane the islands have seen since Hurricane Andrew 1992. The storm stayed offshore of Florida, skirting up the east coast and having minimal impact on the state. 

Dorian is forecast to run parallel along the coast of the Carolinas Thursday into Friday, bringing high storm surges and drenching rains.

(Photo: Amy Pope-Latham, LCSW)