Strange Cloud

Clouds over Midway are some of the most beautiful I've seen anywhere. Which blue do you like the best in the picture on the left?!

In the right-hand picture above, notice the blue on the underside of the cloud, right above the naupaka bushes.  Sometimes Hawaiian sailing-canoe navigators are far out at sea, and can't see any land.  But, if they see a cloud with blue on it, they know it's reflecting the color of shallow water.  That tells them there's an island underneath the cloud!

But, as pretty as those clouds are, I wouldn't say they're strange.  The strangest cloud I've seen while here on Midway is called a "sun dog." 

One day while I was working in the volunteer office, Greg came running inside and said, "Hurry up!  Come outside!  There's a sun dog up in the sky!"  WHAT?! 

Of course I dropped what I was doing and followed him outdoors.  There was no dog hanging in the air.  But looking a bit to the side of the Sun* we saw what is truly called a "sun dog."  There, in the sky above us, was a faint, circular rainbow around the Sun. It's caused by sunlight passing through ice crystals in cirrus clouds high in the atmosphere.

Now that's a strange cloud!

[*By the way, NEVER LOOK AT THE SUN!  You'll damage the lining of your eyes, which is where you see!!]