Acid Reflux Led Me to Ice Pillar Phenomenon Viewing

I woke about 12:15 am on Sunday, December 18, 2022 with an acid reflux-induced cough starting up. Rather than coughing in our bedroom I rose to do so in the kitchen. While in the kitchen I decided to step outside to check out the night sky. I gasped as I observed shafts of light all over the sky. My initial thought was an auroral storm was taking place, but curiously, my aurora alerts app showed nothing significant. It wasn't until about four hours later after my images had been processed and sent to the National Weather Service (in Des Moines, Iowa), that I was corrected and given the true nature of the event--Ice Pillars (also known as Light Pillars). Ice pillars are defined as optical illusions created from lights reflecting off the surface of horizontal ice crystals low in the atmosphere. These plate-like hexagonal shaped crystals are suspended in the air for a period of time, as is freezing fog. When the crystals get low enough in the atmosphere, they create the illusion of the ice pillars. Light sources that illuminate the crystals from below can be street lamps or other brightly colored lights over a city. The image above looks north over Bowman Woods Park in Cedar Rapids, Iowa at 12:43 am CST, and is a 5 second exposure at f/2.8, ISO 500, 11mm focal length. Ice pillar colors have been enhanced. Air temperature was 9 degrees F, with wind chills at zero.

12:45 am. Panorama looking north (center) over Bowman Woods Park. 5 second exposure at f/2.8, ISO 500, 11mm focal length. 

12:46 am. Similar image looking northwest.

12:52 am. Looking southeast over Brentwood Drive NE neighborhood. 8 second exposure at f/2.8, ISO 500, 11mm focal length.

12:56 am. Panorama looking northwest (center) from another area of Bowman Woods Park. Bowman Woods Elementary School is seen at lower left. 4 second exposure at f/2.8, ISO 500, 11mm focal length.

12:56 am. Looking northeast from same area. Ursa Major (The Big Dipper) can be seen at center.

1:00 am. Looking southeast over Brentwood Drive NE neighborhood. 3 second exposure at f/2.8, ISO 400, 11mm focal length. As it turned out, I was "fortunate" that my acid reflux allowed me to be awake for this event! By 3:00 am the pillars had mostly disappeared. 

7:45 am. Sunrise several hours later. A sun pillar is shown flanked by sun dogs as seen from the parking lot at Noelridge Christian Church. The hexagonal ice crystals were still present in the atmosphere to create this atmospheric light variation. Sun pillars (and moon pillars) are created in exactly the same way as ice pillars, but with the light of the sun or moon creating the shaft. Air temperature here was 5 degrees F. Nikon D7200 DSLR camera.