What's That In the Sky?

If you weren't looking up yesterday, you probably missed it.


What is it, you ask? It's called a sun halo. Here are a few other pictures I snapped Wednesday afternoon.
Okay, so what is it? Basically it's an optical phenomenon that appears as a bright, white ring around the sun or moon. High clouds, called cirrus clouds, are made up of ice crystals. When light passes through them the light is refracted and forms a halo. Depending on the shape and orientation of the crystals, different types of halos may be observed. It's interesting to note that halos and other optical phenomenon were once used to forecast the weather before meteorology was developed.

Looking ahead...there is a brand new tropical depression in the Eastern Pacific. I'll write more about hurricanes tomorrow.