Who Let the (Sun) Dogs Out?

 

Who let the "dogs" out?

 

As I turned onto the highway toward Stafford for my Recently Read Book group at the library last evening, the sunset colors had some competition. A vertical rainbow added some additional color to the evening sky. Of course, I had to pull over and take some photos. 

 

I had seen sundogs during a cold patch back in 2019, but those looked a little different. (I wrote about them at this link.)

 

So I wasn't positive that my singular "rainbow" was the same thing. But after some research today, I think it, too, was a sundog or sun pillar.

 

Here's what the AI Overview said:   

 

A vertical rainbow in winter is typically a sundog (parhelion) or a sun pillar, created when sunlight refracts or reflects off ice crystals in the cold air, often appearing as vertical, colorful streaks or bright spots on either side of the low sun. These phenomena occur when plate-shaped ice crystals align as they fall, acting like millions of tiny prisms. 

 

Key Details About Vertical Winter Rainbows:

• Cause: They are formed when sunlight passes through ice crystals in the atmosphere, often from high cirrus clouds or low-level lake effect snow. The ice crystals in the upper atmosphere act as prisms. 
• Appearance:
  They can appear as colored, vertical pillars of light (sun pillars) or bright, rainbow-colored spots (sundogs/parhelia)
  .
Timing: These are most common during sunrise or sunset when the sun is low on the horizon.
Terminology: They are sometimes referred to as "mock suns," "phantom suns," or colloquially as a "snowbow". 

These optical phenomena are not actually rainbows, which require liquid water drops, but rather a form of atmospheric ice halo.

Some interpretations view a winter rainbow as a symbol of the loyalty of friends and family ... or so says one source.

OK ... that's a nice thought.

Writing for the Old Farmer's Almanac, James Garriss said this: 

In medieval times, the three bright lights were sometimes interpreted as the sign of the trinity, a sign of great fortune. Nowadays, they are a sign that you were lucky to be looking at the sky at just the right time.  

I like being at the right place at the right time. And then I got to hear about some favorite reads at my local library? That's a pretty great evening in my "book." (A little library humor for you!)