Continuing on the theme of sunrises – this is one of the most special I have seen yet and dates from the 25 November 2013.
Most of the sunrises I see are sheets of colour painted across the sky in a grand scale, using large brushes and vibrant colours, but this one was something different. This one was far more delicate beginning with a pale orange watercolour wash across the horizon. As the sun rose the orange wash spread out across the still night darkened sky, like the slow but inevitable movement of the tide up a beach. Out of this advancing colour, just as the sun broke the horizon, there was what could only be described as someone turning on a powerful arc light that was pointed straight up into the sky, producing a distinct pillar of glowing light. Wow! There was something amazing about it, it looked so much like an actual arc light, but the size and the quality of light just wasn’t right and meant that it could not be man made, it had to be natural. At the same time the new sunlight also highlighted some thin wisps of clouds that wafted across the morning sky, in particular catching the remnants of several aircraft vapour trails and making them shine almost like silver.
Sun Pillar – 25 November 2013 (Copyright Carol Jones)
Later investigation showed that this arc light was the rare phenomenon called a sun pillar. Sun pillars are the combined reflection of sunlight from millions of horizontal ice crystals in the atmosphere and these collective glints form what seems to be a pillar of light.
lostnaturalist 