I had heard of these, but they are very rare to see,
especially under these conditions ~ Paradise Found
I was driving this morning and was preparing to exit the freeway, when I noticed something ahead that looked very odd. The sky ahead had a frozen mist, like a fog over the area ahead of me. It looked pretty cool, so I grabbed my camera and readied myself for a few photo's.
Hazy sun I photographed quickly while driving
I need to set the stage a bit more for you, as this morning was bitter cold. I had just noted the temperature was -10 F at the time I was driving, and the foggy look ahead looked like a movie scene. Like a frozen mist hanging in the air, blocking the view. There was a water tower, just off the highway, and you couldn't make out the city name painted in huge letters on it, because it was so hazy.
Ok, back to my story, I readied my camera and snapped a few quick shots, especially at the sun, as it wasn't clear to see and very hazy. As I was about to set my camera down, I noticed something else, off to the side of the sun. Yes, it was a rainbow, very cool, click click, my camera whirred as I snapped a few shots of this. I thought it unusual to see a rainbow under these conditions, bitter cold (-10), frozen mist, and early morning.
You can see the "sundog" to the right of the hazy sun
So when I get home I start searching for "frozen rainbow." and I come across something else called the "sundog." Here is what I learned about this strange occurrence: Sundogs form when light from the sun is scattered and refracted through the atmosphere. The sunlight is refracted horizontally off those low level ice crystals, and that produces the color spectrum in line with the sun’s elevation on the horizon. Sundogs appear along the 22° halo and disappear as the Sun rises.
This was a pretty cool thing to stumble across this morning. It happened so quickly, I could have missed it. I hope you enjoyed it as much as I did. Thanks for you time!!