(Fremont County, wy) – Many people in Riverton and Lander found that unusual lights showed the night sky late Tuesday, especially near our hospitals and airports.
The cause was not supernatural or shameful, but it was unusual: a rare meteorological phenomenon known as “light columns”.
“Light columns are light rays that hit tiny snow crystals, which looks like strobe lights,” explains Dave Lipson, meteorologist of County 10,. “This often happens in cold weather at the end of a snow event.”
If the conditions are exactly correct, these tiny ice particles reflect the light back to the ground. But millions of ice particles easily reflect the optical illusion of a column of light that shoots into the sky.
Another memory of nature that the winter weather can show quite a show!