COLUMBIA, S.C. — The weather is getting nicer and nicer, which means you'll be wanting to spend some time outside.
That's why it's important each day to protect your skin from the Sun’s harmful rays.
During this time of the year, our sun angle (how high up in the sky the sun is) is near where it would be in late August, which means it doesn't take very long to get a sunburn.
Our Sun lets out many forms of solar radiation, infrared, visible light, and ultraviolet are just a few.
These higher energy waves also called UV have smaller wavelengths which allows them to travel through solids which can end up causing damage.
When the sun’s light becomes more direct this time of the year these UV rays will penetrate the skin and damage the cells. This typically will result in sunburn, but, prolonged exposure could lead to skin cancer.
That’s why it is so important to wear sunscreen.
The sunscreen provides a physical barrier that reflects or absorbs these UV rays which then protects the many layers in your skin.
Let’s talk about when you need this protection though.
The UV Index to forecast how much ultraviolet radiation will be present in a day. Once the UV Index hits anything higher than a 3 or 4 it is recommended that you use sunscreen when going out.
Wednesday, the UV Index in the Midlands looks to be around a 9 or the high category. That means without the correct protection, fair skin can burn in as little as 15 minutes.