No Gray Whales at Sunset: Parking lot still closed!

No gray whales observed in calm clear viewing conditions. The road crew finished what is hopefully the last repair and the parking lot will open this weekend. A gorgeous sunset that lit up in shades of red, orange, purple, pink, lavender thanks to the accumulation of clouds. There was a sun dog or sunset rainbow visible to the right of the sun, an atmospheric optical phenomenon due to the light rays refraction and water ice crystals in the clouds. Also known as a parhelion. It’s called a sun dog in reference to greek mythology-Zeus walked across the sun with two dogs and the rainbows appear one on each side representing his dogs as companions to the sun. Sun dogs are relatively rare occurrences. A sun pillar was partially visible, which is a beam of light refracted perpendicular to the sun shining straight up through the clouds.

Partially visible sun pillar

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