GR translation: the yellow sun being teased apart

[Mike Jing]

V26.7-10, P26.28-32   It was one of those great iron afternoons in London:
the yellow sun being teased apart by a thousand chimneys breathing, fawning
upward without shame. This smoke is more than the day’s breath, more than
dark strength—it is an imperial presence that lives and moves.

What does "the yellow sun being teased apart" mean here?