You might have noticed that every winter, some of Iowa’s sunrises and sunsets start to take on a strange characteristic — as the sun rises or sets, a halo appears and two other balls of light appear on each side of the sun! This is called a “sun dog,” and it only happens when the air is cold enough for ice crystals to form in the atmosphere. When diamond dust — or flat ice crystals — are found in cirrus clouds, halos and sun dogs appear. When they’re randomly oriented, halos appear, and when they happen to have their flat faces horizontally, sundogs appear. Because of how cold it’s been in Iowa, we’ve been seeing them all the time! Check out some recent photos of the phenomenon below.

On January 3rd, there was a mesmerizing sunrise that was seen with sundogs in Northeast Iowa. This shot was at Little Wall Lake.
Submitted to Only In Iowa / Jolene Erickson
And this was the scene on the same morning at St Ansgar.
Submitted to Only In Iowa / Joan Ihnen
It was stunning from Iowa Falls as well!
Submitted to Only In Iowa / Stephanie Wobschall Eckhoff

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This is another stunning sundog from Iowa Falls in early January, 2018.
Lisa Eighmey Senne‎ / Iowa Nature Lovers
Lake Mills showed off a fascinating sky on January 14...
Submitted to Only In Iowa / Lory Groe
...and Cherokee County was alight with a stunning sundog and halo on January 15th.
Kim Anderson Luetkeman / ‎Iowa Nature Lovers

Have you seen any amazing sundogs lately? Be sure to share your best sundog photos with us on our new (secret!) Facebook group, Iowa Nature Lovers! Click here to request to join the group, where you’ll find great photos and discussion of Iowa’s natural beauty.

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