PITTSBURGH — Many WPXI-TV Pittsburgh Facebook followers posted about a halo around the moon Sunday night. And as it turns out, it's fairly common.
Severe Weather Team meteorologist Scott Harbaugh said the halo is a result of the refracting and splitting of light off ice crystals in cirrus clouds high in the troposphere (about 35,000 feet above the surface).
https://twitter.com/WPXIScott/status/541881527471439872
“The ‘halo’ is a usually a sign of unsettled weather to come in the next 24 to 48 hours, and hey we have rain and snow showers in the forecast beginning early Tuesday,” Harbaugh explained.