Ever seen a ghostly rainbow halo around the Sun?
A Sun halo is caused by the refraction, reflection, and dispersion of light through ice particles suspended within thin, wispy, high altitude cirrus or cirrostratus clouds. As light passes through these hexagon-shaped ice crystals, it is bent at a 22° angle, creating a circular halo around the Sun. The prism effect of light passing through these six-sided ice crystals also separates the light into its various color frequencies, making the halo look like a very pale rainbow, with red on the inside and blue on the outside.
Folklore tells us Sun halos can predict the weather:
A ring around the Sun or Moon
means rain or snow is coming soon.
Sundog?
Occasionally, brighter areas will form along these halos, creating a mock Sun, or “sundog.” Sundogs are known as parhelia (or the singular parhelion) to astronomers, from the Greek words meaning “beside the Sun.”
Have you ever seen a sun halo, mock sun, or other interesting sights? Share in the comments below!
If you notice a hole in the upper left-hand corner of your Farmers' Almanac, don't return it to the store! That hole isn't a defect; it's a part of history. Starting with the first edition of the Farmers' Almanac in 1818, readers used to nail holes into the corners to hang it up in their homes, barns, and outhouses (to provide both reading material and toilet paper). In 1919, the Almanac's publishers began pre-drilling holes in the corners to make it even easier for readers to keep all of that invaluable information (and paper) handy.
13 comments
Wow, Sherry, thanks for sharing!
There was a sun hall on 6/12/2019 about 25 miles south of Buffalo NY It was the most amazing thing I’ve seen in a long time. I didn’t even know what it was I looked it up on Google.
Saw my first ever Sun halo today in Modesto, California.. It was so pretty!! There was a beautiful cloud rainbow too..
Saw one on 4/16/19 In Costa Maya.
Saw a sun halo today in Nassau, The Bahamas. It was really facinating and there was also a rainbow seen around it about 30 feet from the halo itself….
[…] outside, but I didn’t see the blimp – instead, I saw something much better – a sun halo! It was gorgeous and huge and a wonderful surprise! Sun halo’s don’t happen every day, […]
The first one I ever saw and was told what they were, was on a chilly Yacht Sail around Lake Tahoe in May… We see them occasionally here in Arizona.
I saw one of these driving home from work the other night and could not figure out what I was seeing…now I know! It was so awesome!
What does it mean if only a partial on north or south
That’s really cool, but Jaime is right NEVER look right at the sun without some serious eye protection.
Hi Brenda,
Sun halos are relatively common in all regions, though they do tend to happen more often on cool, crisp days (and, consequently, more often in colder regions). Because it is not advised (and can be painful) to look directly at the Sun, though, it can be hard to spot one, especially if you aren’t wearing sunglasses. In fact, I had to put on Sandi’s sunglasses to see this one. Looking without them was too blinding.
Yes, recently on two different occasions! The thing is I, nor anyone else i have talked to, Remembers having seen one before. Are these rare occurrences in Texas Gulf Coast area?
I have because I live in Nova Scotia. it’s not rare to see a sundog in January.
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