Have you noticed all the online postings of weird clouds and optical phenomena during the recent weeks?
Is this a sign of disturbances in the atmosphere, geo-engineering or something more sinister.
The answer is an emphatic no.
It’s as simple as light playing tricks on you.
No aliens arriving or the world coming to an end, purely visual deception.
Though astrological optical phenomena occur at any time of the year, they are more prevalent in winter due to the sun’s path across the sky, which is much lower than during summer.
Another contributing factor is the colder temperatures causing ice crystals, which naturally are more abundant during winter.
For those who have not seen these postings on social media, sundogs are bright, often rainbow-coloured spots of light 22° to the left or right of the sun.
Sun or moon halos are bright, luminous rings of light that appear around the sun or moon.
Both these phenomena are caused when sunlight is refracted through ice crystals in high-altitude cirrus clouds.
Sun pillars appear as a shaft of light extending vertically above the sun, most often at sunrise or sundown, and differ as they are caused by reflection and not refraction.
The more commonly known rainbow is caused by the reflection, refraction and dispersion of sunlight passing through water droplets, creating a spectrum of light.
In simple terms, the difference between reflection and refraction is that reflection is the bouncing of light off a surface, while refraction is the bending of light as it passes through a different medium such as water or ice.
Another reason why so many of these and other strange phenomena are becoming more prevalent in modern times, is the invention of the cellphone camera and social media.
We all know how quickly a story or photograph can spread across social media.
This gives rise to so many fake news stories and click-bait postings.
I will never forget, years ago (before cellphone cameras and the digital era) when a sun halo appeared over Gqeberha, a Herald photographer was sent out to the Weather Office to have photographs taken and to get the story of this weird phenomenon.
As it was so well defined and lasted quite some time, there was a lot of interest around the event at the time.
I decided to dig into my archives, and it was interesting to note that the photographer was Fredlin Adriaan, who is still a photographer for The Herald.
On the topic of solar phenomenon, Sunday marks the arrival of the winter solstice (longest night and shortest day).
Though everybody thinks that this is the middle of winter, the winter solstice marks the astronomical beginning of winter because it is the exact moment the Earth’s axis is tilted furthest from the sun and the planet continues absorbing and losing heat over the following weeks, causing peak cold to occur later.
Meteorologically, especially for record keeping purposes, winter starts on the first day of June.
We therefore have many more cold days ahead of us, before welcoming some warmer spring weather.
It is interesting that Gqeberha has its lowest average minimum temperature during June.
Each month from here on, minimum temperatures start to increase month by month.
That, however, does not mean that we will not still experience our fair share of cold nights.
Minus 5°C has been recorded right up until October.
On the positive side, piping hot soup, pancakes and other hearty comfort foods will be the flavour of the day for the next few months.
For some, just from the culinary side, it is their favourite time of year.
Besides that, it is a fine excuse for having a hearty sherry or two on a cold night in front of a fire.
This week in history:
1998: Veldt fire causes much damage reported from Plettenberg Bay right through to Uniondale.
Dam Levels
101.26% with previous week at 102.61%
Impofu up to 105.7%
Weather Safety Tips:
Currently, with all the heavy rain, many trees’ rooting systems are compromised.
Even a few weeks after the flooding, the soil is super saturated.
Avoid parking your vehicle near a tree that looks diseased, is cracked, lost its bark and all its leaves.
This is a sure sign that the tree could topple even with the slightest wind.
Check the trees in your garden and cut back all dead branches before they cause damage or injury.
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