Winter Rainbow

Central Pennsylvania was fortunate to miss the bad winter storm that was expected in our area on Sunday into Monday. It tracked a bit south of us, and I have to admit that we didn't miss (at all!) shoveling the foot of snow that had originally been predicted for our area. Instead, we had a couple of icy spots, a few fat lazy snowflakes, no accumulation. And that was it. Which was fine by us!

After the system moved through, the polar vortex was back, sending overnight temperatures plummeting. The local temperature on Tuesday morning was around 7 to 9 degrees F (around -13 or -14 C). Having a sense that as we have moved into March, there can't be much real winter ahead of us, I was in search of frost mist rising on this day. It's a phenomenon I've seen a few times, usually around the Millbrook Marsh in early morning just as sun hits (see here and here), or along Spring Creek.

So I swung by Millbrook in the early morning - there was to be no frost mist rising on this day, but there were amazing ice crystal formations on every twig and branch along Thompson Run.  In hopes of getting some better shots of the mist moving along the water, I left the wooden walkway and went down to the water, where I was happily taking a few shots. It had started as a gray morning, but the sun arrived a few minutes after I did. When I looked down, I saw a rainbow's arc reflected in the water, and then I looked up to see the arc of a rainbow around the sun in the sky above me.

The phenomenon has spiritual connotations: it is known as the "whirling rainbow" to the Native Americans, and as such it is a sign of peace and harmony, of the unity of all of the peoples of the world. (Read more on that topic here.)

It is also known as a sun halo to the skygazers, a phenomenon caused by the refraction and reflection of sunlight through ice crystals in cirrus clouds. You can learn more about it (and see some awesome pictures of other sun halos) on the EarthSky Web site.

While I have probably seen this phenomenon before, this one was pretty spectacular, and I stood and marveled at it. A beautiful winter's rainbow, made of ice, around the sun. What an amazing world we live in. Winter rainbows, indeed. The whirling rainbow, bringer of peace and unity: an inspiring thought for the day.

There is a song that I've been wanting to use for one of my winter shots, and I think this is the time to pull it out and use it. The song is from Disney's movie Frozen, and it is about a girl who discovers that she carries inside of her a special winter magic capable of unleashing breathtaking beauties. I can say that on this morning, I felt a sense of kinship with that girl. :-) The song is Idina Menzel: Let It Go.

P.S. The cold never bothered me any way . . .      :-)

P.P.S. I understand that this song has become very popular, with many versions on YouTube created by fans. My second favorite version, though, is this clip, which features a traffic reporter named Bob Herzog performing his own parody of it. This clip includes scenes of the weather that has caused challenging travel conditions throughout this winter. I laugh hysterically when I watch it, but then again, my sense of humor just may have been a bit warped by all this cold weather and snow. This is what passes for winter humor, I guess. Laugh or cry if you will when you see it; I think I will choose . . . laughter.