A Cloud Shadow Sunrise
Credit & Copyright:
Kee Hinckley
What could cause a ray of dark?
Such a ray was
caught in spectacular fashion above the
Florida Everglades
two years ago.
The cause is something surprisingly familiar: a
shadow.
The gold-tinged cloud near the horizon
blocks sunlight from
reflecting off air behind the cloud,
making that column of air appear
unusually dark.
Cloud shadows can be thought of the
inverse of the more commonly highlighted
crepuscular rays, where
sunlight pours though cloud holes.
Another seemingly opposite phenomenon, a
sun pillar, involves small
ice crystals floating high in the atmosphere.