Lunar halo spotted over Devon

A lunar halo was spotted over Devon on Wednesday, February 5, showcasing a ring of light that appears around the moon. 

It's caused by moonlight refracting through ice crystals in the upper atmosphere.

The Met Office explained that haloes require ice crystals to form - either from high cirrus clouds or free falling crystals. Typically sunlight or moonlight is reflected by ice crystals, producing a white halo. However, if the light rays strike the light at a particular angle, some light may be refracted. In such situations the halo will have a faint colouration.

The majority of ice crystals are hexagonal, or six-sided, and the most common angle of refraction through such a crystal is about 22 degrees. This is the most frequent type of halo and they are named 22° Haloes.

The weather service also stated that In the past haloes and other such atmospheric phenomena were used as an empirical form of weather forecasting before the development of meteorology.

here is some degree of truth in this.

The high cirrus cloud which contains the ice crystals required for haloes to form often signifies an approaching frontal system; however in many cases the front will be inactive or simply change course from the area - producing no rain.