The Light Pillar Phenomenon

Canadian winters are famously cold. But freezing temps bring about unusual delights.

Tonight, (where we are) it’s -32C. We happened to look out the window and saw multiple vertical columns of light beams shining down, connecting sky to earth. It looked like what you might think a UFO invasion would - minus the craft. We had no idea what we were looking at. It was surreal, supernatural, and felt wholly celestial. Awestruck, we bundled up and went outside to get a better look.

casual canadian light show

Turns out it’s a rare, cold-weather optical phenomenon that occurs under specific conditions.

Light pillars appear when tiny ice crystals in the air are so cold - they form in a hexagonal plate shape and remain suspended through the air, maintaining an almost perfect horizontal orientation.

This horizontal orientation is key - it's what allows the crystals to reflect light from ground sources straight up into the sky. Each ice crystal acts as a tiny mirror, and when millions of them are suspended in the air aligned the same way, they create striking vertical beams.

The reason they appear as pillars rather than just a general glow, is that the collective reflection from all the crystals happen to be in just the right position to reflect light to your eye.

We are not the first to find them otherworldly. In Norse mythology, light pillars were sometimes associated with the Bifröst - the rainbow bridge connecting Midgard (Earth) to Asgard (realm of the gods). The vertical columns of light were seen as possible manifestations or reflections of this bridge.

Among some First Nations in North America, atmospheric phenomena like light pillars were often interpreted as messages from ancestors or spiritual beings. And in some northern European folklore, vertical lights in the sky were sometimes interpreted as pathways for spirits.

Honestly, if you experience them in person, that could all totally make sense.