FROM TODAY'S PRINT EDITIONS:
Charlie Charnigo, of Abbottstown, Pa., was driving near Carlisle recently when he saw what he described as “wavy … rainbow rays” moving across the snowy fields as he drove. “I … grew up in the country and have never seen such a thing.”
It’s a snowbow. On the ground, or perhaps in blowing snow just above the surface, the principle is the same: Sunlight striking the snow is bent, or “refracted” inside billions of ice crystals, spread into its constituent colors and reflected to your eyes.
(SUN PHOTO: Perry Thorsvik, 1997)