Just a short diary to document an unusual atmospheric event I happened to see yesterday afternoon . . .
I've had a cold for the past few days, and yesterday was the first time I felt OK enough to take a walk outside, so I wandered around downtown St Petersburg, Florida, yesterday afternoon, and just happened to look up and see a rather rare atmosphere event called a "sun halo". And since I always carry a camera with me, I was able to photograph it:
It only lasted a couple of hours.
This morning I see press reports about it from all over the US, and the Weather Channel gives an explanation of the phenomenon. Basically, it happens when a thin layer of ice crystals forms in the upper atmosphere and refracts the sun's rays to form a circular rainbow at a distance of 22 degrees from the sun:
http://www.weather.com/...
So did anyone else happen to see it or get a photo of it?