Of Sun Dogs and Ice bows
By Russell Russ

Here is a summary of January’s weather as recorded at Norfolk’s National Weather Service Cooperative Weather Observer Station, Norfolk 2 SW, by the Great Mountain Forest Corporation.
The month’s low temperature of 5 degrees below zero was observed on January 3, with a wind chill of minus 26 degrees. There was a high of 57 degrees on January 8. The average temperature this month was 25 degrees, which was 4.7 degrees above normal for January.
The month saw several records broken. The low of 5 degrees below zero on January 3 tied a record for that date set in 1981. Four days later, on January 7, a high of 52 degrees tied the same high temperature recorded in 1946. The 57 degrees observed on January 8 set a record high for that date, beating the last record high of 52 degrees set back in 1937.
Total precipitation for the month was 2.37 inches., which was 1.64 inches below normal. Interestingly, December’s total precipitation was exactly 1.64 inches above normal.
January’s snowfall totaled 19.2 inches, which was 2.5 inches below normal. The snowstorm that began during the late evening of January 13 and ended during the day on January 14 was by far the biggest, dumping a total of almost 10 inches at the station. As in December, there was snow cover on the ground at the station every day of January.
A beautiful ice bow was observed on the morning of January 3 and to a lesser extent on January 22. An ice bow is a phenomenon similar to a rainbow, except it is formed by the refraction of sunlight through cloud-suspended ice crystals, instead of raindrops suspended in the air. When the air temperature is very cold and there are high thin clouds, the light from the low sun refracts through the ice crystals in the clouds, resulting in a band, or bow, of color.
An ice bow is a phenomenon similar to a rainbow, except it is formed by the refraction of sunlight through cloud-suspended ice crystals, instead of raindrops suspended in the air.
A parhelion, or sun dog, was seen on seven days of the month. It is formed under somewhat similar circumstances, but only appears as a colored luminous spot to either side of the sun. When conditions are right a parhelion can form on both sides of the sun.