Sun dogs were spotted at the Big White Ski Resort on Wednesday. Sun dogs are created when ice crystals are suspended in the air and reflect light from the sun.
Image Credit: SUBMITTED/Paula Wallis
December 31, 2021 - 6:30 AM
Skiers and snowboarders were given a visual treat at the Big White Ski Resort this week.
Throughout the day, individuals on the hill could see sun halos or the more commonly called sun dogs.
“A sun dog is an interesting thing. An atmospheric optical phenomenon is the best way to look at it, it’s a bright spot on one or both sides of the sun,” meteorologist with Environment of climate change of Canada Brian Proctor said.
Weather Network meteorologist and video journalist Jaclyn Whittal added that sun dogs occur when there is cold Arctic air being funnelled from the north, or the prairies towards the coast.
“When the Arctic air is in place, the level of moisture in the atmosphere is very low and we can get ice crystals that linger in the air,” Whittal said. “It’s so cold that we have these tiny ice crystals that are suspended in the air, and when the sun is at the exact right angle we need, reflecting, and refracting that light through the ice crystals we start to see a ring around the sun.”
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Sun dogs are typically created when ice crystals form on either side of the sun, the ice crystals then descend perpendicular to the sun causing refraction of the sunlight.
“The refraction of the ice crystals shows an indication of three suns,” Proctor said.
Although sun dogs usually occur in colder climates like the Arctic or prairies, they have been recorded in Jerusalem and Greece, Proctor said.
“It usually happens in colder weather with a cold upper atmosphere for the ice crystals to slowly settle. It needs to be a fairly calm atmosphere with not a lot of wind that could break up the ice crystals,” he said.
Sun dogs are common in colder regions that are typically very sunny.
“The Okanagan is a sunny area for much of the year, as we move into the wintertime it can be cloudy, with the low cloud trapped in the valley bottom,” Proctor said. “Areas that are typically sunny and cold see them more frequently, they aren’t as common in the Okanagan.”
Proctor added there’s a better chance of seeing a sun dog at a high elevation, such as the top of a ski hill, rather than at the bottom of the valley.
Paula Wallis took to Facebook on Wednesday, Dec. 29, to show the sun dogs she saw on Big White.
She has skied at Big White for 10 years and this is the first time she’s ever seen the suspended ice crystals in the air.
"We get to see them a couple of times a year here in the Okanagan because we don’t have a lot of cold air outbreaks here,” Whittal added. “When you see a sun dog, you know you’re in a very cold air mass. We only get a sun dog when the coldest air masses visit us here in the Okanagan.”
Sun dogs can last for long periods of time if there are a lot of ice crystals in the atmosphere and light wind.
“It’s an interesting phenomenon,” Proctor said. “Enjoy them when you see them because they aren’t that common in the Okanagan.”
Individuals at the Big White Ski Resort captured the sun dogs on Wednesday.
Image Credit: SUBMITTED/Andrew Braff
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