New year on the horizon

A quick cold snap on New Year's Eve Day yielded an atmospheric phenomenon technically named parhelia, or a sun halo. Also known as an icebow, nimbus or gloriole, sun halos occur when hexagonal ice crystals suspended in cirrostratus clouds refract sunlight to create a 22 degree arc around the sun.

Unlike the more commonly sighted sundogs, which generally are visible only when the sun is near the horizon, a halo remains visible as the Sun rises in the sky.

Aaron Anfinson captured this majestic photo at dawn on Dec. 31 as he and his wife Nadia Al-Dayel tended to the animals on the Adnan and Merita Aldayel farm on the south edge of New Rockford. Temperatures rose into the 30s on Wednesday night, just 36 hours later.