Mist Around The Moon?

[Stratocumulus perlucidus]

Just noticed that the moon has rather a large halo tonight. Doesnt this mean cold weather is on the way?

[johnholmes]

Just noticed that the moon has rather a large halo tonight. Doesnt this mean cold weather is on the way?

no not at all-usually it indicates that cloud is passing in front of it at high level, possibly meaning a front is moving in. But that will happen whether its a warm or cold front or indeed just a trough.

[Backtrack]

Just noticed that the moon has rather a large halo tonight. Doesnt this mean cold weather is on the way?

I wish.

I thought this meant that the clouds at that height were made of ice crystals or something. Either that or it's just some light cloud.

[Aaron]

Yup the moon is telling you to buy a lot of snow shovels and snow tryes!

[Stratocumulus perlucidus]

I wish.

I thought this meant that the clouds at that height were made of ice crystals or something.

Thats what i thought hence cold weather.

[ANYWEATHER]

All it means is that moisture is invading the Atmosphere at around 40,000 ft. Often a prelude to some unsettled weather and in this case its right, with low pressure and its attendant fronts moving slowly East. Have a look at some of the old folklore regarding this, some of this is fairly correct!

[legritter]

i love it when we get a good halo in the winter during a good cold spell . i remember back in 81 / 82 we had a low coming in of the atlantic , it finished up moving east to our south / a cracking snowfall followed in somerset. the halo was very pronounced the night before , as the high level cloud arrived . lets hope its a winter of halo s, lunar and solar . cant wait for some action to start ,the weather and /FELLOW NET MEMBERS /CHEERS LETS HOPE WE ALL GET OUR FAVOURITE WEATHER , AT SOME STAGE THIS WINTER .

[ZONE 51]

When the halo because more and more milky this then indicates precipitation on the horizon and heading in soon, usually Altostratus high cloud at first then becoming thicker as lower cloud rolls in, until it rains or snows, sometimes a rainbow halo can appear and the massive wide rings to-and i have seen these a few times and are amazing, also you can get passing areas of high cloud that cause short periods of halos, but does not bring any ppn, it usually just moves away, its when it gets more and more milky and the moon fades behind it, then thats when the fronts are coming, but with convective/troughs/cold fronts/showers they can turn up without a halo! i think its more likely that warm or occluded fronts that have a cirrostratus/altostatus layer ahead of them, rather then cold fronts?

Edited November 2, 2011 by ElectricSnowStorm