Sun and moon halos don't necessarily predict rain

This morning brought a very nice halo around the rising sun:

The halo is called the 22° halo because it forms that many degrees away from the sun or moon. It's a common occurence, but these halos often go unnoticed because it's not a good idea to stare at the sun. However, this morning the sun was shielded behind thicker clouds, producing a display that could be seen without frying eyeballs.

Ice crystals in the atmosphere are responsible for the 22° halos, sun dogs, rings around the moon, and other atmospheric phenomena.

During a winter night when a halo could be seen around the moon, my Grandpa would say something like, "Ring around the moon, it's going to snow soon!" The idea was that the high, thin cirrus clouds that produce the halo are the same clouds that arrive in front of a major storm.

But that doesn't always work. Sometimes cirrus clouds are just cirrus clouds. Today is a case in point: There's a low pressure system to our south, but it's not moving this way. We're not going to see any rain today. Or tomorrow. Or this week.

The computer models are hinting at a major change in the weather patterns next week, suggesting a chance of strong thunderstorms. We might see the typical November nastiness that we've all grown to love in Missouri. Until then, I'm enjoying this spring-like weather, although I'm not too keen on the sunburn I got at the Homecoming game.