SUNDOG

Do you know what a SUNDOG is?? It is one of God's most beautiful creations and wonders. When my nephew Mark invited me to Minnesota in February, 2010 to go ice fishing, we picked a day which happened to be one of the coldest days of the month. It's a full day's drive to Mille Lac Lake, MN so I left Butte at sun rise. The temperature was twenty degrees below zero. When I reached the highway just out of town I saw it!! The sun was just breaking the horizon, and the sky was clear as a bell. Did I have my camera with me? Yes! Pull over and take a picture before it is gone! Could it have been a better composition? Not with that windmill right in front of the rising sun!

A Sundog is made with prism shaped ice crystals, otherwise known as "diamond dust" that are floating in the atmosphere. That alone is enough to describe the phenomenon that the viewer is about to see. It must be extremely cold for a Sundog to form so the minus 20 degree temperature of this day, along with the clear sky, was a perfect combination as the sunrise happened. The prism shaped ice crystals reflect the sun's rays and create the beauty that we see below. I have seen several Sundogs since living here but this one was truly the clearest and most profound one yet. This is another advantage of living in a very cold climate. I hope you enjoy it as much as I did and I wish that everyone could experience one first hand. Thank you, God, for your wonderful creation.