A look at some of the phenomena that help create a winter wonderland

Light pillars seen in Saint Theresa Point on Dec. 6, 2024. (Glenn Monias)

Whether you are a fan of winter or not, it is hard to deny the season can create some spectacular sights.

A mixture of sun and ice crystals, or water freezing the right way, can lead to some breathtaking displays and perfect picture opportunities.

Light pillars 

Bright lights shooting up into the sky—just like the name suggests—like a pillar.

With multiple in a small area, it creates a light display that is hard to match.

While it might look like something that is from a sci-fi movie, Natalie Hasell, a warning preparedness meteorologist with Environment and Climate Change Canada (ECCC), said it's created with just some light—natural or artificial—and the right size of ice crystals.

"Typically, we're talking about hexagonal ice crystals, so six-sided ice crystals, and often they're in columns," said Hasell. "It's basically an illusion where the light is being reflected vertically."

She said the ice crystal columns are usually aligned horizontally, and then when the light hits them, the pillars of light fly up.

Hasell said these aren't necessarily rare in the winter, but people do need a few factors to happen to see them.

"The sun has to be at the right angle. You need to have the right kind of cloud…You need ice crystals in the air, maybe on a very cold day," she said. "It's a nice coincidence when you are in the right place and everything else is lined up.

Sun dogs 

When those same ice crystals and lights line up another way, a sun dog is what people might see.

"Now they have to be vertically aligned, and it's refracting the light. So the light passes through the ice crystal, and then it gets bent on its way to your eye, and you'll see often a halo. When we have a little bit more concentrated light at the level of the sun, those would be the sun dogs."

She said they can happen at any time of day, and depending on the time of day, the radius of the sun dog might be wider or smaller.

If people are looking for the perfect sun dog picture, Hasell is reminding them to still get some kind of protection for their eyes, as you don't want to be looking directly at the sun.

Hoar frost and rime icing 

The next two winter land wonders have to do with how ice forms; depending on the conditions, it can present in very different ways.

Hoar frost is something everyone has probably seen—when ice crystals form on tree branches or power lines in pointy patterns.

Hasell said it happens when water vapour skips the liquid phase and freezes straight to a solid.

"So hoar frost will happen on cold days in clear skies, typically (with) light winds," she said, noting the phenomenon can also form on cars or even the ground in the right conditions.

While hoar frost develops on clear, sunny days, rime icing happens when it is grey, cloudy, and foggy.

"So water droplets can remain liquid well below zero because of the surface tension on the water droplet, but the moment it touches something, the moment it hits an object, then the water tension is disrupted, and your fog becomes freezing fog. So on foggy days, often very early in the morning, but it can happen pretty much any time when we have fog in temperatures below zero, you will get rime icing."

She said both conditions are quite common in Manitoba during the winter, and can help create a Narnia kind of feeling when people are outside.