Sun pillar appears at sunrise over Smith Mountain Lake

Photos show fairly unique phenomenon over SML

Courtesy: Jimmy Morris - Smith Mountain Lake

ROANOKE, Va. – It's been so nice to see the sun these past few days. Now that we can actually see the sunrise and sunset, we're starting to get more of your pictures each day. (Keep sending them! We love it!)

Tuesday morning, Jimmy Morris took some incredible sunrise shots over Smith Mountain Lake. If you look at the picture below, you can easily see a vertical beam of light extending from the horizon. That's a sun pillar. 

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Sun pillars happen during sunrise or sunset, when the sun is very low on the horizon. When the air is cold enough, ice crystals in the clouds can reflect the sun's light and create this stripe or beam.

More of Jimmy's pictures can be found below. If you, by any chance, saw these sun pillars and got a picture, feel free to send them to us on social media or via email to news@wsls.com


About the Author

Meteorologist Chris Michaels is an American Meteorological Society (AMS) Certified Broadcaster, forecasting weather conditions in southwest Virginia on WSLS 10 News from 5 a.m. to 7 a.m. weekdays on Virginia Today.

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