Sunday, December 04, 2005

light pillars



everybody is talking about the light pillars seen here last night. also called false aurora. they form when city lights reflect off ice crystals in the air.

nice!

13 comments:

Jeff said...

Anne- Very nice. :)

Anonymous said...

Those are awesome. I'll bet they were REALLY awesome to look at in person.

Kelly (Lynn) Parra said...

Wow, cool. I'd probably stare for a long time if I saw this in person. I'm always awed by unique aspects of nature. =)

Bonnie Godbee said...

them thar' lites shure is purty :D

Anonymous said...

Ice crystals in the air? Sounds nippy.

Isn't there a phenomenon called a false dawn or something that is also caused by ice crystals?

Jerilyn Dufresne, author said...

Lovely, anne. But brrrrr...

It's so cold here that I even wore gloves to hold my Starbucks. 3 degrees actual. High will be in the teens somewhere. Can't wait for that heatwave. Jer

anne frasier said...

i have to say that i didn't take the photo. i didn't even know about the event until i saw it on the news. if i stand in my backyard, i can see a small amount of sky if i look straight up. it's enough to drive a person MAAAAAADDD.

jason, i've heard of a false dawn, but never knew what it meant.

jer, glad to know you're suffering with me. :D

Rob Gregory Browne said...

Once you move to Hawaii, you'll see the sky all the time.

And there won't be any smog in it.

Jerilyn Dufresne, author said...

Suffering even more today, anne. It was 3 degrees when I left home and 2 by the time I got to work. I need SNOW to make cold bearable.

emeraldcite said...

The clouds moved in and it hit 65. Not sure what you guys are complaining about ;)

anne frasier said...

rob, that sounds pretty damn nice!
emerald! LOL! i don't know how cold it got here, but it was 4 below at about 10:00 am.

jer -- we have snow, but it would be weird if we didn't! that stuff will be on the ground until May. :D

Jerilyn Dufresne, author said...

Today my hometown was mentioned on the Today Show--weather portion. Al said, "And it's one below in Quincy IL." That sure woke me up. :) It's six hours south and still as cold as Milwaukee.

anne frasier said...

brrr. and i think they're getting the snow there tonight.