Colour My Skies Beautiful

I was enjoying a cup of hot tea on a cold but sunny afternoon last week. The sun shone through the window behind me and was refracted through a light fixture before it landed on my mug. My own personal rainbow had arrived. I took the above picture as the colours were so warm and beautiful on a white January day.


I have never met anyone who is not delighted to see a rainbow. We had a wet summer with frequent afternoon rain storms. It seemed that every week we were treated to a full rainbow. I took many pictures but was never able to get them completely in one photo as I do not have a wide angle lens. The rainbow above was over a gravel pit just outside the city, the same place where I now see Snow Buntings flying over frozen fields.


A recent blast of Arctic air has brought very cold temperatures to our region. Ice rainbows or sun dogs are seen frequently in these conditions. I took this picture of a sun dog over the Grand River on my way into work last Friday just after the sun had risen. There was a second sun dog on the other side of the sun, but again I could not get them both in the picture.


This picture over the same river was taken a few minutes before sunrise this week. There is a water treatment plant downstream and the water that is discharged into the river is relatively warm creating the steam seen in the distance. It was about -20C but the colour of the sky was brilliantly reflected in the water making the river look like a golden ribbon.

Sun and glass, sun and rain, sun and ice,
sun approaching the horizon...
all create an explosion of colour and unique beauty.

Follow this link to view more skies from around the world.