It was our coldest Easter in over a decade but plenty of Spring weather is in store for us this week. My Mom and Dad had a great time but were in shock by our snow flurries on Saturday and once again on Sunday. It can be tough going from 80s to 30s and flurries, but not even a little snow could spoil our great family weekend. My Mom told me she was ready to decorate the Christmas tree, but instead we did find a couple dozen eggs to decorate. It is a good thing we missed the 12 to 16 inches of snow that southern Wisconsin was buried in over the weekend. Milwaukee has now had its snowiest winter since 1885-86 with almost 100 inches of snow! Here at home it was all about taking the girls swimming at the hotel, having my Mom's famous macaroni and cheese, watching basketball, playing games, and bowling! It was certainly perfect bowling weather. My parents stayed in the same hotel as the Purdue Women's basketball team and it was fun being able to greet them as they came in. My Dad apparently had a good chat with Kalika France this morning in what amounted to quite a pep speech. We will see if it works tomorrow night against Tennessee. Kalika is also from Maryland like my family so she was all smiles and really pumped up by time my Dad was through. My Dad was quite the basketball coach when I was growing up and always had his team ready to play. Go Boilers!
The cold Easter weekend also brought plenty of interesting sights in the sky. The Easter Eve moonrise sent in from Monty Sloan at Wolk Park above was one of a kind. The sky resembled January more than March this weekend and that meant we had plenty of ice crystals or cirrus clouds in the sky. This helped to accentuate our moonrises and sunsets.
The blog question of the night is this: What was this weather phenomenon photographed at the Benton County wind farm near Earl Park over the weekend. Janet Karlstrand did a great job of capturing this for us! Great job on all the answers to the blog question, including Teri of Lafayette that also gets an A+ for enthusiasm. I wish I could give everybody T-Shirts, but it may be awhile before we can actually start giving those out and I am still looking into printing the winter T-shirts. The picture above can be considered a sun pillar. We usually only see this here in Lafayette during sunrises or sunsets during cold spells. What is interesting is this can also happen with streetlights and a rising or setting moon. What you see above are the sun's rays reflecting off the bottom of millions of ice crystals that are slowly falling to the ground. They will not reach the ground, but we know they are there thanks to this beautiful sun pillar.
Sun pillars will give way to a more Spring-like sky the next few days and we know what that can bring....cumulonimbus clouds! Stay tuned.
6 comments:
Hi Mike, I am not sure if my answer to the blog question is correct but I will give it a shot. Is the photo of a Sunpillar? Sunpillars happen due to collective glints of millions of ice crystals in the sky that take on the color of the sun and clouds, can happen at sunrise or sunset I think.
I am a weather fan, and have learned from your blog.
Have a wonderful day!
Teri in Lafayette
One more thing to add to my answer. Sun Pillars form when sunlight reflects off the surfaces of falling ice crystals associated with thin high level clouds like cirrostratus clouds. not sure how common they are in this area this time of year.
Mike if my answer is correct do I win another t-shirt? I answered the trowal question right! just kidding about the t-shirt.
We are on spring break, and it is sleeting outside, yuk! So we will be making ham and beans from leftovers from Christmas, oops I mean Easter dinner!
Is good day to go bowling as well.
Teri in Lafayette.
One more thing to add to my answer. Sun Pillars form when sunlight reflects off the surfaces of falling ice crystals associated with thin high level clouds like cirrostratus clouds. not sure how common they are in this area this time of year.
Mike if my answer is correct do I win another t-shirt? I answered the trowal question right! just kidding about the t-shirt.
We are on spring break, and it is sleeting outside, yuk! So we will be making ham and beans from leftovers from Christmas, oops I mean Easter dinner!
Is good day to go bowling as well.
Teri in Lafayette.
One more thing to add to my answer. Sun Pillars form when sunlight reflects off the surfaces of falling ice crystals associated with thin high level clouds like cirrostratus clouds. not sure how common they are in this area this time of year.
Mike if my answer is correct do I win another t-shirt? I answered the trowal question right! just kidding about the t-shirt.
We are on spring break, and it is sleeting outside, yuk! So we will be making ham and beans from leftovers from Christmas, oops I mean Easter dinner!
Is good day to go bowling as well.
Teri in Lafayette.
Pillars appear in the sky when snow or ice crystals reflect light forward from a strong source such as the sun or moon. Those crystals with plate or column shapes provide an excellent surface from which the light may reflect toward the viewer's eyes. Ice crystals in the form of plates or columns can be found in ice clouds (cirrus or alto forms), ice fogs, snow virga falling from high-based clouds, blowing snow and diamond dust.
Because the light rays forming pillars are reflected, they take on the colour of the incident light. For example, when the sun is higher in the sky, pillars are white or bright yellow in colour. But when it is near the horizon and its light colour dominantly orange, gold or red, so is the resulting pillar.
Pillars appear in the sky when snow or ice crystals reflect light forward from a strong source such as the sun or moon. Those crystals with plate or column shapes provide an excellent surface from which the light may reflect toward the viewer's eyes. Ice crystals in the form of plates or columns can be found in ice clouds (cirrus or alto forms), ice fogs, snow virga falling from high-based clouds, blowing snow and diamond dust.
Because the light rays forming pillars are reflected, they take on the colour of the incident light. For example, when the sun is higher in the sky, pillars are white or bright yellow in colour. But when it is near the horizon and its light colour dominantly orange, gold or red, so is the resulting pillar.
Rob in Lafayette
When the upper and lower sun pillars are visible together with a part of the parhelic circle, a cross is formed in the sky. In medieval times, such an impressive phenomenon was often considered a sign of God.
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