STEVENS COUNTY, Minn. – Sky watchers in Minnesota are blown away by a stunning double optical effect that unfolded in Morris, MN.
Locals witnessed a vibrant double optical effect in the sky on Wednesday, as much of the state has been gripped by frigid weather, with the official start of meteorological winter already underway.
The two mesmerizing effects, otherwise known as a “sun dog,” appear as halos around the sun.
According to the FOX Forecast Center, to see a sun dog, you must have the sunlight through the ice crystals in the cirrus cloud be refracted at a minimum angle of 22 degrees.
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Parhelia, also known as sun dogs, observed in the Minnesota sky.
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“In the right circumstances, two sun dogs may appear with a slight coloration of red and blue,” read a statement from metoffice.gov.
The effect is known as “Parhelia,” which results from sunlight passing through hexagonal ice crystals in cirrus clouds, according to metoffice.gov.
Carol Bauer, who captured the phenomenon, describes it as a “circumzenithal arc,” also known as an upside-down rainbow.
To see a circumzenithal arc, you need a specific atmospheric condition: the height, depth, and position of the cirrus clouds must be at a particular angle to the sun.
These views make for a perfect photoshoot of the skyline.
