Morning rays

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Sun + snow = winter at its best

Once a sundog....

Until I had my camera in hand, there was a sundog in the middle of this cloud fragment.  Yesterday was only the second time I have seen a sundog and the first was also afternoon of a cold day.  I think of them as miniature rainbows, perhaps a better description would be a section of a rainbow.  The sundog, or parhelion, is ice crystals reflecting the sun. 

I recommend these Wikipedia articles: Sundog and Atmospheric Optics.  And for a great novel, please read Jim Harrison's Sundog

Winter came with a snow that began around noon and didn't stop until a heavy, wet two inches was covering everything when we went walking this morning.  The clouds were trying to part to let the sun come through and hopefully take the snow burden off the trees.  It was the evergreens that were groaning under the weight since most of the deciduous trees are bare now.   Luckily we did not receive the snowy blast that hit the U.S. east coast almost two weeks ago.  Some have just had electricity restored this week.

To escape snow skies, please stop by Skywatch Friday. 

Weird and Wild Weather

Earthquakes in Virginia and Colorado, Hurricane Irene bearing down on the mainland US, two nights of fierce thunder and lightening storms here in southwest Michigan on Tuesday and Wednesday nights racing toward Canada with tornadoes in Wisconsin and Ontario -- Weird and Wild Weather indeed. These two photos were taken Wednesday night about five minutes apart and show the turmoil and strange orange light that followed the initial storm. For more skies, some definitely gentler, please visit Skywatch Friday.