A painted hour
Cloud in the right place
Colour needs something to land on. Broken middle cloud or a veil of high cloud, with a gap so the sun can get underneath, is the hour worth the early start.
Colour forecast
Glow
Is the colour worth getting up for?
What colour needs
A grey hour
A deck, rain, or an empty sky
A solid low cloud, rain or fog keeps the light out. A clear sky can still be beautiful, but the colour stays low on the horizon. There is little for it to catch.
A lid
The colour may be on the tops
When warmer air sits on colder air, cloud can pool underneath. Down here that is a grey sunrise. Above the lid, the tops can take the colour. Glow says so when the two readings disagree.
Saved places
The latest places sit under the search box.
A forecast of colour, not a promise of one. It is not a safety forecast, and it does not replace a mountain forecast.
Forecast and air data from Open-Meteo.