Icy clouds make for brilliant sun halos over B.C.

"You'd really need a full sky view to see what we saw," one Comox resident said. "It was really spectacular."

'You'd really need a full sky view to see what we saw'

CBC News ·
Sun halos, also known as sundogs, appeared over Vancouver Island on Wednesday. The rings happen when air at higher altitudes is cold enough to form ice crystals, which bend the light around the sun. (Josh Ghory)

Hello, halos.

Icy clouds made for stunning rings around the sun over Vancouver Island on Wednesday — a phenomenon known as sun halos.

It happens when air high in the sky is cold enough to form clouds that contain ice crystals.

Those crystals act like prisms and mirrors, bending light around the sun. Sometimes, they split the light up into colours and create rainbow rings.

Watch the video below for a full explanation from CBC meterologist Johanna Wagstaffe.

Sun dogs are an optical illusion created by ice crystals 2:53

David Ballantyne said the halos were out in full force over his Comox home on Wednesday.

"There was a huge, perfect circle around the sun with rainbows along the edges and further smaller rainbow on either side ... as well as three huge intersecting white rings filling the sky to the west of the sun," he wrote in an email.

"You'd really need a full sky view to see what we saw," he added. "It was really spectacular."

Other Courtenay Comox residents caught the display over their homes, too. Did you catch the halos?

David Ballantyne stitched several photos together to get the full scope of sundogs over Comox on Wednesday. (David Ballantyne)
David Ballantyne said "three huge intersecting white rings" appeared in the sky just west of the sun. (David Ballantyne)
Bob Hutter snapped several photos before the weather changed. (Bob Hutter)
One of several photos taken by Hutter before the weather changed. (Bob Hutter)

With files from Johanna Wagstaffe

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