Ice Pillars over Saint Cloud

Tuesday, December 6th, 2005 at 10:02 PM by Juan

(Click on image for full-size version.) A photograph of Light Pillars over Saint Cloud. (Courtesy: Dan Mondloch)

This past Saturday night, I noticed an interesting light display in the skies over Saint Cloud. It looked like an odd version of aurora, a bunch of lit-up columns of light running vertically into the sky, but unlike aurora, they were not moving in any way. Today, one of my former students showed me some photos taken by his cousin, SCSU student and local artist Dan Mondloch. They were beautiful and exactly what I had seen. To quote Dan:

I took [these photos] on Saturday Night, December 3rd around 9:30 to 10:00 pm. I took them [near] Seberger Park.

A quick discussion with Dave Williams revealed he had seen this odd display also and as it turns out he had also found out what it was. It turns out so many people saw this display that the National Weather Service Central Region Headquarters saw fit to write a press release about the phenomenon. It turns out these ice pillars occur very rarely. Basically, conditions that cause ice crystals to form in the upper atmosphere, giving us ‘sun dogs‘ and ‘moon dogs‘, can, under very rare circumstances, occur much closer to the ground. When it does, we see these pillars of light, which are really light sources near the ground reflected off the ice crystals in the air. A chilly explanation of a beautiful phenomenon.

(Click on images for full-size versions.) Two more pictures showing the light pillars over some Saint Cloud homes that have been decorated for Christmas. (Courtesy: Dan Mondloch)

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One Response to “Ice Pillars over Saint Cloud”

1. Ben wrote on 12/10/05 at 3:22 pm :

   Thanks for posting the images and details on this atmospheric phenomenon. I hope one day to see this but hearing how rare this is I might never get the chance.