STORM2K

There is a halo around the moon. Nothing odd about that but I have looked at the moon with my naked eye and with a very good telescope many many times. I have never seen it look like this??? Any comments???

Nothing but clouds in my sky....got a pic?

Same as Kelly...

We've had rain and clouds all day. I can't see what you mean either.

OK I feel stupid now..maybe it's clouds here too.

LOL Johnathan!!

No reason to feel stupid though.

I had a large halo LAST night ... thing was huge.

If I'm not mistaken, when you see a halo around the moon you'll get rain in the next day or so.

I'd asked that question before and I believe that's what someone told me.

southerngale wrote:LOL Johnathan!!

No reason to feel stupid though.

Just looked odd to me. Maybe I am overworked LOL

I always heard the same thing Kathy. I guess we can test it and find out tomorrow if they got rain.

it's either that or Rainband went swimming in a pool with too much chlorine! lol

I'm seeing a good sized halo around the moon tonight (between the clouds, of course). Hope I get some rain soon.

Debbie

deb-in-fl, you are welcome to take MINE!

According to the maps, I am at present in the third day of a sweeping T-storm front moving from the TX Panhandle through the Ohio Valley, with colder temps to come afterwards...perhaps by Monday, late AM.

"A halo is a ring of light that surrounds either the sun or moon and typically appears as bright white rings. However, some halos can also have color patterns. A halo is an optical phenomenon similar in concept to a rainbow but also very different.

Halos form when the sunlight or moonlight is refracted or bent by ice crystals associated with thin-high level clouds, like cirrus or cirrostratus. The most common type of halo is the 22 degree halo. In this halo, a ring of light 22 degrees from the sun or moon is projected by hexagonal (i.e. six-side) ice crystals with diameters less than 20.5 micrometers.

As light passes through the crystal, it is bent or refracted twice. The two refractions bend the light by 22 degrees from its original direction, producing a ring of light."

Often, a halo around the moon or sun is an indicator of cloudy or rainy weather as high level cirrus and cirrostratus clouds that cause halos tend to drift ahead of frontal systems (especially warm fronts) that produce rainfall.

I've heard Kathy's explanation, too. Then, here's
NASA's explanation:

http://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/apod/ap000515.html

Rainband wrote:There is a halo around the moon. Nothing odd about that but I have looked at the moon with my naked eye and with a very good telescope many many times. I have never seen it look like this??? Any comments???

yes...it usually occurs when high level cirrus clouds move over that portion of the sky which causes the moon to appear as if it has a halo around it.

Thanks guys for the explainations. I guess it is local. I understand the reason for halos...I just never have seen one quite like this No ..I haven't been in a pool today LOL

That's true... when there is a "halo" around the moon (or even the sun) it means that there is a chance of precipitation in the next 12 to 24 hour.

The "chance" includes a shield of precipitation that is not moving in your direction, but close enough to cause the this phenomena.

One evening there was a halo around the moon at my home in southeastern Massachusetts... looking at the radar at that time, it was snowing in northern Maine; this activity moved southeastward, opposed to south to south-southwestward- (which would be rare) toward eastern Massachusetts.

We, here in Mn can bet on seeing a ring around the moon quite frequently. Looks awesome. And, yes, it is due to ice crytals.

Rainband wrote:Thanks guys for the explainations. I guess it is local. I understand the reason for halos...I just never have seen one quite like this No ..I haven't been in a pool today LOL

I was in the pool yesterday... (yes its winter but this is Florida and it was 80)...

I have only seen a moon halo once and I rubbed my eyes like crazy, I thought I was seeing things