Conditions will be right for more sun dogs today! A sun dog is when the sun appears to have two bright “rainbows” on either side of it. The official term is parhelion, but the fun term is sun dog. On Wednesday, January 7, 2015, we had several viewers send in pictures of sun dogs as conditions were just right for this spectacle to take place. These colored areas of light appear on the right and left sides of the sun and normally occur during bitter cold days just after sunrise or before sunset. Here’s a picture from Dave Chesling, who shot this near Muscatine, Iowa on Highway 61.
The dry snow or ice crystals will be suspended in the air today courtesy of the brisk winds that will keep temperatures just above zero for daytime highs. Given their hexagonal features, the sunlight will bend or refract due to the crystals causing this rare phenomenon to take place.
Word has it they are called sun dogs because they follow the sun like a dog follows its master. But in this case we will be the ones getting the treat.
