An Atmospheric Phenomenon

[ski diva]

Today when I was skiing I saw one of the strangest, most amazing things I've ever seen in the daylight sky. First, some background: it was very, very cold and though the sun was out, there was a low lying haze that sparkled when the sun hit it. Every now and then this would clear and you could get a glimpse of some blue sky overhead. I was skiing down the slope, looked up, and there was the sun, about 40 degrees above the horizon, completely encircled by a rainbow! I'd never seen anything like it before. It was incredible! Not a close-in rainbow, like a halo. This was a great, big circle. I wished I had my camera, but of course, I didn't.

Anyone else seen this, or any other amazing atmospheric occurrences, while they were skiing?

 

[MaineSkiLady]

I've seen this. I'm certainly not a meteorologist, but I think I've heard that this is due to low-level ice crystals causing this reflection on an otherwise clear day. It really is cool, only happens on bitter cold days. (which are common @ Sugarloaf)

Another neat thing is a lenticular cloud that "hangs" right over a summit, looks very much like a mushroom. Quite common in the higher elevations of the White Mts in NH. One hung right over Wildcat one day while I was skiing there. Across the road, Mt. Washington was clear. Will post photo if I can find one, but there are some amazing lenticular cloud photos just via googling.

 

[Kimmyt]

Not while skiing, but about a month ago on my way to swim class I observed a phenomenon called 'light pillars' which are basically when on a cold night the crystals of ice hang in the air and reflect light usually from artificial sources, though it can also happen around the moon. What I saw was green and pink stripes in the sky at a 180 degree circle around me. Everyone thought it was the Northern lights, only problem being it was visible to the south!

https://www.nbcphiladelphia.com/weather/stories/Planes_Rains_or_UFOs.html?corder=&pg=1

 

[Kiragirl]

very cool reports.

This is probably not unique, but yesterday after the super freeze of Friday and Saturday, all the icicles on the lift cables were frozen sideways!

 

[Sierra]

Cool!!! Could it be a sun dog? https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sun_dog

 

[dloveski]

that's my first guess.

https://box128.bluehost.com/~sevensag/wp-content/uploads/2006/06/spokane-sundog.jpg

 

[ski diva]

Nope, not a sun dog. This was a 360° rainbow -- went allllllllllll the way around the sun.

 

[Grace Elventhing]

I was curious about this, and tracked down a (hopefully) authoritative explanation from a meteorologist in Chicago. -Grace E.

 

[Gumbelina]

Ooh Kimmyt I didn't know there was a name for that; I saw the same thing while we were driving Friday night. Had to take my glasses off to make sure my eyes weren't fooling me. Pretty cool!

 

[lisaski]

I bet it was a 22 degree halo. It is caused by sunlight refracting through ice crytsale, just like light is bent by a prism. It's 22 degrees because that's how far the halo is from the sun. Most times, sun dogs accompany the halo. This URL has an awesome picture of one with sun dogs and an arc:

https://www.atoptics.co.uk/halosim.htm

Lisa