Is it possible to change a layout's background color ingame?

I was wondering if this is possible without the need to create a sprite,it seems whenever i use a big sprite and change its opacity i see some spikes in performance.

Im trying to avoid using big sprites for my weather/atmospheric effects.

System:"Set layer background color" on the lowest layer.

blackhornet Thank you for the fast reply, That info will come in handy for me in my project,thanks again for the info blackhornet