Catch the Halo
A fellow hiker friend catching the 22 deg Halo today from atop the Miranjani Mountain in Northern Pakistan. From Islamabad, we traveled 2 1/2 hours by car to reach Nathiagali (a beautiful pine forest covered hill resort) and from there another 2 1/2 hours gruesome hike to the top.
A 22° halo is an optical phenomenon, forming a circle with a radius of approximately 22° around the Sun. It forms as sunlight is refracted in millions of randomly oriented hexagonal ice crystals suspended in the atmosphere. Seeing a Halo is almost a certain precursor of inclement weather, which we also experienced about two hours from this shot. Rain, hail and sun light and then rainbow all upon us at the same time ;)
Tokina 11-16mm.
Uploaded on April 11, 2015