National Weather Service United States Department of Commerce

Winter Weather in the Eastern U.S.; Heavy Rains Begin Across the Southern Plains into the Ohio Valley

A wintry mix may impact travel across portions of the Mid-Atlantic through the morning and the Northeast U.S. through Tuesday. Heavy rain and thunderstorms may cause a flooding threat across the Southern Plains into the Ohio Valley beginning Tuesday. Fire weather concerns will continue across portions of the central and southern High Plains through Wednesday. Read More >

During the morning of March 12, 2008, an optical phenomena was visible in the eastern sky from Spokane, a parhelion, more commonly known as a sundog. These typically (but not always) for near sunrise and sunset when the sun is low in the sky and the atmosphere is filled with ice crystals, typically from cirrus clouds. Unlike rainbows, which appear in the sky opposite the sun, sundogs appear to the left and right of the sun. The sun's rays are reflected or refracted as they pass through the ice crystals, forming the sundogs.

Sun dog
Right peripheral
Left peripheral