10 July 2011

Sun dog "double sunset"

Photo from Paul Douglas' On Weather blog:
I took this photo a few days ago (with my trusty new Olympus SZ-30 MR), showing a spectacular example of a "sun dog". An example of parhelia, sun dogs are triggered by sunlight being refracted (bent) off hexagonal ice crystals about 25,000 feet above the ground. Cirrus clouds act as billions of microscopic prisms, bending white light into the colors of the rainbow. Pretty cool.
I agree; I'm particularly impressed that the sun dog was bright enough to be reflected by the water in the lake.

2 comments:

  1. "Sun dogs flare on windshield glass,
    Sudden swoop skyward - Iron Horse Overpass.
    Pass a man walking like the man in the moon,
    Walking like his head's full of Irish fiddle tunes.
    Whirl on silver wheels"

    -"Silver Wheels" by Bruce Cockburn. surely one of the best road tunes ever, from "In the Falling Dark"

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  2. My grandmother taught me that a sun dog means that a change in the weather is coming (usually within 24 hours). I think this might be due to the fact that if there are clouds about, it might be a front, etc.

    In any case, it has been a remarkably true rule of thumb.

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