ROCHESTER, N.Y. – There are a multitude of challenges that we face during the winter season. I explain and illustrate them quite regularly in this First Alert Weather In-Depth segment. But it can be said there is also a lot of beauty during winter. We just need to go out and look for it.
One of our viewers, named Derek, sent us some pictures of the night sky from this past weekend. If you watch my In-Depth weather video on this story you will see these pictures contain vertical shafts of light. At first glance you might think it was the northern lights. However, sky cover was not conducive to this type of aurora borealis event. This was an interesting optical phenomenon called light pillars. This is created by an artificial light and a specific type of snowflake. Meteorologically, it is important to have a relatively calm night with very cold conditions. The temperature plays a direct role in the type of snowflake which is needed to create this kind of effect. At certain temperatures, a snowflake can take on an unusual shape similar to a very thin hexagonal plate. As you might expect these snowflakes have more reflectivity which will have a direct impact by the light source. The artificial light in this case is created be street and building lights at ground level. This pillar of light is the reflectivity of what we see with the human eye.
Winter can be “cool” and fun. We just need to know where to look for it.
Weather In-Depth: Winter optics containing a pillar of light WHEC.com.
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