It's just like this sometimes

[sholio]

There's an actively growing 500-acre wildfire about ten miles north of us right now. I'm not particularly concerned; there are crews on it, it's on the other side of a river and it's also north of the municipal firebreak (a stripe of cleared land that surrounds the town as a fire control measure). However, it's producing a vaguely thunderhead-looking plume of smoke over the top of the hill to the north, which right now - this is at about 11:30 p.m. - is also coinciding with a spectacular sundog surrounding the sun, which is below the horizon but (in the way of the Arctic in mid-June) not very far below and not for very long.





The color correction on my phone camera makes it look darker out there than it really is. It's actually broad daylight, and the sundog stands out a bit more on the camera than it does in real life. Still a really cool effect, though.

Comments

[sovay]

The color correction on my phone camera makes it look darker out there than it really is.

Capturing the sun dog in the first photo, though, is great.

[sholio]

We first noticed the sundog earlier this evening - in fact a double sundog (an inner and outer ring, like a double rainbow), the first time I've ever seen one! It was just impossible to photograph earlier; all my attempts washed out due to the brightness of the sky. I don't know if it's because of smoke in the upper atmosphere or some other condition, but it's really interesting to see. You often see partial ones in the winter when there are a lot of ice crystals in the air, but it's really rare to see a full 360˚ ring around the sun like this.

[leesa_perrie]

Cool that you were able to capture a sun dog!!

[lilacsigil]

Wow, those are really cool pictures, despite the looming wildfire! I hope you don't get too much smoke.

[muccamukk]

Those are very cool pictures. The world burning down last summer did lead to a lot of good sunsets.

[lunabee34]

I'm glad you're not very worried about it reaching you. I hope you and everyone else in the area stays safe.

[trobadora]

Wow, that first photo is amazing!

I'm glad you're not too worried about the fire.

[silverflight8]

The sundog is gorgeous!

[rachelmanija]

Wow! That first pic looks like an SF book cover.

[yhlee]

Whoooooa. Stay safe, cool photos! :D

[sartorias]

Gorgeous!

[booksarelife]

Cool!!

[booksarelife]

I hope the fire continues to be something you don’t have to worry about

[sheron]

I've never heard the term 'sundog'!

Hope the fire subsides.

[aelfgyfu_mead]

Do you smell it? We sometimes get fires in Florida that we can smell many miles away. It's irritating to me, so I can only imagine how it might be for people with serious respiratory issues.

It looks impressive, especially with the sundog!

[timespirt]

Beautiful and very scary. Since it's 6 days ago I hope it's out.

Stay safe hon.