Sun dog, Rainbows in the Clouds

I had the rare opportunity to see sun dogs yesterday afternoon. This time, I was able to see both of them, which is a first for me. I have always looked for one on the opposing side, but I have never seen it. This time I was able to see them on both sides, but the north side sun dog was much more pronounced and more easily photograhable, so that is the one you see here.

Sundogs are formed when light passes through crystal side faces inclined at 60° to each other. The rays, like those of the 22° halo, are deviated by up to 50° but those near to the minimum deviation condition of near to 22° are the most numerous, and they form the very bright sundog on the inner edges. Sundogs are often brightly colored because the crystals refract each color by a different amount.

Since I am a huge fan of rainbows, sun dogs are right up my alley. They look like a distorted rainbow in the clouds. They are actually on my list of favorite sky occurences, right there with mammatus clouds.

Weather for South Central Georgia was downright cold this morning. I am not a fan of cold weather, and that is disturbing when we consider the "modified" Arctic (Polar) airmass working its way down the country toward this area. There exists some dissention between the models, as GFS MOS forecasts a hard freeze Sunday and possibly Monday, whereas, the more reliably accurate GFS BIAS presents a less drastic drop in temperatures. My vote goes to the BIAS. Either way, it should be a quick recovery, as clouds should move in, bringing rain chances and a warm front should arrive from the southeast. Mind you, it will still get COLD before it gets warm again, so don't go packing up those long johns just yet. The question is HOW COLD? Time will tell. We currently sit north of the warm sector, and the low forming in the Gulf should cut across well to the south bringing a chance of severe weather, including a chance for isolated tornadoes, to the coast, but we aren't expecting it here. The SPC doesn't seem all that impressed, but they have offered up some "text" on the matter.

VERTICAL WIND PROFILES WILL STRENGTHEN AS RESULT OF THE UPPER WAVE AND PROVIDE SUFFICIENT DEEP LAYER SHEAR FOR POSSIBLE ROTATING STORMS. DESPITE THE FAVORABLE WIND PROFILES...INSTABILITY IS FORECAST TO BE VERY WEAK... AS THE SURFACE LOW APPROACHES THE FL PANHANDLE...RICHER BOUNDARY LAYER MOISTURE FROM THE WRN/CENTRAL GULF COULD REACH THE FL PANHANDLE COAST TOWARD 17/12Z...AND IF IT DOES...AN ISOLATED TORNADO WOULD BE POSSIBLE.

It looks like it all comes down to timing with this one. Bottom line being that it won't happen here. Was there any doubt?

I had to chuckle this morning. On TWC, they flashed a picture by one of their "weather warriors", who took a pic of a tree that had broken under the weight of the snow up north. The "weather warrior" who submitted the pic was 8 years old, and they got on a tangent about how he was a future "weather weenie". That cracked me up, so I figured I'd share it with you.

I have another funny to share with you... apparently, someone found my blog using a google search for "people getting sucked up by tornadoes". I was number 5 on that search. LOL! When I just checked again, moments ago... I noticed that someone found the blog by typing in "cool chaser". When I checked the search, google had me at the number 2 spot for that!!! Now, that's pretty cool!

Ciao,
~Dewdrop