Rain. Snow. Cold. Repeat. The winter of 2015-16 has been nothing if not erratic. Within a week — and sometimes within the same day — the weather veers from spring to autumn, and then back into winter.

But here’s one of the payoffs for living in a winter country: sun dogs. Formed by sunlight being refracting through airborne ice crystals, these puppies seem to be rising, rainbow-like, right off the surface of the snow. (The photo doesn’t quite do them justice.)

In fact, these arcs — also known as “parhelia” — are winter magic, conjured up by sunlight, air and ice. As the sun’s rays slice through the air, they scatter off of tiny, crystalline columns, falling like a continuous shower of ice. The “diamond dust” forms a prism, breaking the sunlight into gorgeous, glittering reds, yellows and mauves. My Nature Company Guide to Weather is a little more matter of fact. “A large number of randomly falling ice crystals is necessary to sustain sun dogs,” it says, failing to note that those same crystals help sustain my spirit, on a cold winter morning.