Question for you snow experts: are rainbow sparkles common?

[profdant139]

We just got back from a week of snow camping in the Sequoias, and we came across something we'd never seen before in 50 years of snow sports -- snow that sparkled in all the colors of the rainbow. Here is an example of what we saw:



Is this something that you see all the time in the Far North? If so, that's just one more reason to head up to the Arctic in the winter (along with the aurora).

(Sorry if this is a naive Southern Californian question, but that's who I am.)

[AKsilvereagle]

Here in interior Alaska anyways it is not common for rainbow sparkles to appear.

However I decided to drive the long way to Anchorage in October 1987 passing thru Isabel Pass on the Richardson Hwy. along the nicknamed "Rainbow Mountain" in the eastern Alaska Range located roughly 155 miles south of Fairbanks and 25 miles north of Paxson, I seen a not too common phenomenon that happens along this mountain slope surface when a fresh blanket of snow covers it and the clear sunlight hits it just right as it displays sparkling colors....it looked like a bunch of multi colored gumdrops were poured all over that mountain slope on top of the snow and it was sure a sight to see.

The year before, a friend's wife from Delta Junction (who is legally blind) mentioned about this and told me the best possible time to witness it is late afternoon after a fresh blanket of snow and clear day during the winter months except November thru January.

It just so happened I waited out a winterfront before leaving for Anchorage so that the roads were clear enough to drive my 1970 Thunderbird the long way around and got lucky upon timing it perfectly to see this mountain slope sparkle.....it was the only one time I had seen this mountain like that.


September 2006 - Eastern Alaska Range looking south at Rainbow Mountain thru Isabel Pass :


Mile 209 Richardson Hwy. - a closer view :


Mile 205 Richardson Hwy. looking north :


A few times I seen sparkling color in the fresh snow around here but not too often really, mostly happens after a fresh snowfall and clear skies during March and April.

[sue_t]

Near Fairbanks AK http://www.ronnmurrayphoto.com/

He also has a live aurora cam if you wish to sit at home and watch 😄

[profdant139]

Phenomenal photos! There is a place called Takhini River Lodge -- it looks like it is not far from you in the Ibex Valley -- that offers Northern Lights viewing. Judging from your photos, it looks like a good area! Might just have to break out the wallet and head up North. Probably not this year, but maybe next.

[sue_t]

6 seconds, ISO-2500, f/3.5 with a Canon 10-22mm wide angle lens on a Canon 7D

Depending on how bright the lights are, I might go up to 8 seconds or down to ISO-1200. I prefer the shorter exposure though, to keep the stars crisp and not blur the lights too much. That night (pictured above) the lights were moving fast so I reduced the exposure and upped the ISO (light sensitivity) in an effort to keep some definition to the aurora.

[profdant139]

Amazing, Sue! Judging by how sharp the stars are, that exposure must have been for 15 seconds or less -- maybe at an ISO of 3200? Well done!

[sue_t]

profdant139 wrote:
But we still have never seen the aurora during the winter -- we have seen dim glimmers during a summer bike tour in Alaska, but that is not the same thing.

Not the same thing at all 😄 This was April 11, 2015 in Yukon

[SideHillSoup]

Note sure what makes them sparkle, but if anyone wants to come look at them, they can grab a shovel and look for them as they shovel my driveway, as they are falling like crazy out there right now..... Op.... Here goes a sparkling one..... (Grin)

Soup

[profdant139]

Dewey, our local weather people are great meteorologists, but they know nothing about snow -- yesterday it was 90 degrees at my house, and I would have gone to the beach except that there were no waves at all! I figure that most of the folks who read this forum know more about snow than anyone in Southern California ever will.

But based on what I am hearing from you folks in the North, this was indeed one of those once in a lifetime events. My wife and I have a list of those sorts of things -- like the time a dolphin surfed a wave with us and then did a backflip in front of us. Or the time that she petted a baby whale in Baja, after its mother herded it toward our boat. Or a moon-rainbow at Yosemite Falls on a winter night. Or swimming in the freezing indigo water of Crater Lake, on a hot summer day. Or, under very dark skies, seeing the reflection of the Milky Way in a still stream high in the Canadian Rockies, with several bull elk bugling in the forest all around us.

But we still have never seen the aurora during the winter -- we have seen dim glimmers during a summer bike tour in Alaska, but that is not the same thing.

[Naio]

dewey02 wrote:
Snow used to just sparkle white.
But now, it has added rainbow colors to be politically correct and show support! 🙂

Best answer!

[dewey02]

profdant139 wrote:
No, Dewey, I think the rainbow sparkles are really some sort of sinister digital enhancement of the environment, or maybe evidence of global warming, or a result of pollutants in the snow. 😉

Seriously, this was one of the most amazing things I have ever seen in a long life of outdoor recreation. Just a freak occurrence -- the snow crystals were just right, the humidity and temp, the angle of the sunlight, or whatever. I will probably never get to see that again.

I was just joking with you.
I've spent a lot of my time outdoors in the snow (I was a forester in Northern Minnesota) and I've never seen this effect. I think you were truly blessed and fortunate to see it. And I don't have an explanation for it. Nature is a wondrous and ever changing thing. You were fortunate to have witnessed something few if any of us will ever see.
Have you tried sending the photo to your local TV weather person? They might have some idea. Just a thought.

[profdant139]

No, Dewey, I think the rainbow sparkles are really some sort of sinister digital enhancement of the environment, or maybe evidence of global warming, or a result of pollutants in the snow. 😉

Seriously, this was one of the most amazing things I have ever seen in a long life of outdoor recreation. Just a freak occurrence -- the snow crystals were just right, the humidity and temp, the angle of the sunlight, or whatever. I will probably never get to see that again.

[dewey02]

Snow used to just sparkle white.
But now, it has added rainbow colors to be politically correct and show support! 🙂

[sue_t]

profdant139 wrote:
...And Sue, have you seen this strange phenomenon in the Yukon?

Not often. Mostly just the white sparkles.

During some darkness hours, the air also twinkles, not with snowflakes but with ice crystals in the air. Most noticeable in the car's headlight beam. It becomes real interesting when driving the highway and seeing a pillar of light ahead, rising hundreds of feet upward, but it's only the crystals in the air highlighted by the highbeams of an oncoming car.

Then there's ice fog...here's a sunrise on the Alaska Highway

[profdant139]

Trigley, the colors were very bright, both through polarized sunglasses and without them. And Sue, have you seen this strange phenomenon in the Yukon?