January 2022 arrived in South Dakota with mild (for a South Dakota winter) temps but things quickly devolved into single-digit highs and crazy wind chill figures.

One interesting side effect of those bitterly cold temps is an atmospheric phenomenon called 'sundogs'. When the sky is mostly clear and the sun is bright, you can see partial rainbows on either side of the sun.

Chuck Wood
Chuck Wood
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According to the National Weather Service, sundogs develop due to the refraction of light through ice crystals. They are located approximately 22 degrees either left, right, or both, from the sun, depending on where the ice crystals are present. The colors usually go from red closest to the sun, out to blue on the outside of the sundog. Sundogs are also known as mock suns or parhelia, which means "with the sun". Sundogs can sometimes be a precursor to snow.

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While sundogs can be fairly common in winter around South Dakota, its elusive cousin the moon dog is rare.  A moon dog features patches of light at 22 degrees to the right and left of the moon, but is typically seen when the moon is a quarter full or more.

Results-Townsquare Media Sioux Falls Most Read South Dakota Stories of 2021

The end of the year is the natural time to take a look back at what has happened over the last 12 months.

Here at Results-Townsquare Media Sioux Falls, our websites and radio stations cover everything from local news stories to weather updates to business openings and closings to entertainment features to unique and interesting things you never even knew existed in and around Sioux Falls, South Dakota, northwest Iowa, and southwest Minnesota.

Results-Townsquare Media Sioux Falls: 

From all of us here at Results-Townsquare Media Sioux Falls thank you for making us part of your life in 2021, and we look forward to a great 2022 with you.

Here are our 10 Most Read Stories for 2021:

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