Sundog lights up frigid suburban skies

Did you know what a parhelion was before today?

Not many of us did, but we quickly learned after pictures of Monday morning’s parhelion in suburban skies started appearing all over social media.

Parhelion is the scientific name for sundog, which is when bright patches of light can be seen to the left or right of the sun — almost like a halo.

Sundogs are most commonly seen during very cold weather when the sun’s is viewed through cirrus clouds made up of falling ice crystals.