Some Montanans Got to Chill and Groove to a Sundog (A What?)

When Mother Nature shows off, it can be a blessing for those who get to experience it.

Well, that is, if you're willing to call a temperature of minus 20 with a wind chill of minus 40 a blessing. It's times like those when you appreciate tidbits of beauty and splendor maybe just a little more.

Montana Fish, Wildlife and Parks Region 5 staff members shared with us the show that occurred in Billings Tuesday morning, February 11. To ease the hardship of those breathtaking, frostbite-causing brutal cold temperatures, much of the city got to enjoy a sundog!

WHAT IS A SUNDOG?

Montana FWP shared this via the National Weather Service: "Sundogs are colored spots of light that develop due to the refraction of light through ice crystals. They are located approximately 22 degrees either left, right, or both, from the sun, depending on where the ice crystals are present. The colors usually go from red closest to the sun, out to blue on the outside of the sundog. Sundogs are also known as mock suns or parhelia, which means 'with the sun'."

WHEN THEY APPEAR

Sundogs can be seen anywhere in the world during any season.They are best seen and most conspicuous when the Sun is near the horizon. They can appear in a variety of forms, sometimes as colorful spots, or other times, so intense and bright there appears to be two additional suns in the sky.

Sundogs are part of a family of atmospheric optical illusions including moon halos and sun halos. A sun halo is a circle of light that creates a circle 22° wide around the sun.
A moon halo is a bright, white ring of light that appears around the moon caused by moonlight refracting off ice crystals in cirrus clouds. 

If Sundogs isn't already the nickname of one or more sports teams, it should be! Or, maybe not. Both the Arizona Sundogs minor league baseball team and the Orlando Sundogs soccer club went out of business.