While fueling up my car in Port Charlotte yesterday afternoon, I saw two women about 20 years my senior aiming their iPhones toward the sky. When I looked up, all I could see were contrails from three airplanes and couldn’t figure out the big deal. Pulling away from the gas station, I saw others looking up so I pulled over and saw something amazingly cool.
A rainbow around the sun. Or was it a sun bow? (or sunbow?) Was it a sign from the higher power above?
Although I was wearing sunglasses, I avoided looking directly at the sun because I didn’t want to burn my eyes out. (Things I remember from junior high and watching a solar eclipse.)
Turns out I was looking at a 22º sun halo (or 22º solar halo) and according to WZVN-TV (Southwest Florida) Chief Meteorologist John Patrick, the halo is “formed by ice crystals in high, thin cirrus clouds.” The “rainbow” is caused by the sun’s rays reflecting against the ice crystals. (Source: “What the Halo?!?” NBC2.com, June 4, 2012)
Apparently, the solar halo was visible throughout South Florida Sunday and yesterday. Did you see it?
Jennifer A. Huber is an award-winning travel and outdoor blogger and writer in Southwest Florida. Originally from Buffalo, N.Y., a hiking trail led her to a career path in the tourism industry for more than 30 years. She spent a decade with a park management company in Yellowstone, Death Valley, and Everglades National Parks. She founded the travel blog, SoloTravelGirl.com with the goal of inspiring others to travel alone, not lonely.
The unexpected death of her former husband in 2008 reminded her how short life is. His passing was a catalyst for sharing her experiences with the goal of inspiring and empowering others to travel solo.
Jennifer holds a Travel Marketing Professional certification from the Southeast Tourism Society, is a certified food judge, member of the NASA Social community, and alum of the FBI Citizens Academy. When not traveling, she is either in the kitchen, practicing her photography skills, or road tripping with her dog, Radcliff.
Step into another world to learn about Florida’s sea life during a nighttime seagrass wading trip into Lemon Bay with the Charlotte Harbor Environmental Center in Englewood, Fla.
Some people choose to run with the bulls. I chose to swim with the bull sharks! My experience with Florida Shark Diving out of Jupiter, Fla., was JAWESOME! I needed a little adrenaline rush in my life and this trip on April 1, 2023, yes, April Fool’s Day, was perfect.