Pillar of Fire

A sun pillar shoots skyward in a brilliant early-January sky in 2000. This photo looks southwest with the setting sun partially hidden behind a silhouetted Northbrook Baptist Church on Boyson Road NE in Cedar Rapids, Iowa. Sun pillars are formed in cold air when the sun is rising or setting, created from falling ice crystals that reflect the sunlight into a column of light. The ice crystals usually fall from cirrus or alto clouds. A column of light in a sun pillar can extend below the sun as well.