Cotton Candy Sky

There is a phenomenon I like to call "Cotton Candy Sky" that I've only ever seen in Texas, specifically in winter, in the brief moments of sunrise during an infinitesimally small window of 30 seconds to maybe 3 minutes at the very longest.

In this moment the sky is shades of vivid teal, starburst strawberry pink, and vivid candy lemon yellow where the sky and clouds touch. It is gorgeous, and I've never been able to capture it on film or digital camera because the sky only looks like this for a very brief moment, and by the time I grab camera, or phone, the moment is over.

I've never seen this particular phenomenon anywhere but Texas (specifically DFW sky, which differs greatly from South, Central, and East Texas skies). It doesn't even look like this in Oklahoma with the same specific criteria.

What I've noticed about this effect is that it must be an unusually cold (for Texas) morning, with clouds that look like snow, but spartan. Specifically I think they are sirius stratus clouds spread incredibly thin across the sky.

Something that I think contributes to the uniqueness of this moment, is how vastly HUGE the Texas sky seems compared to anywhere else I've lived. Our trees are short, our hills and valleys pretty subtle at this part of Texas which is part of the Great Plains, or Great Plateau, depending on where in DFW you live.

I saw beautiful, so far un-captured, moment the most as a teen attending early morning seminary before school. Mormon kids in states other than Utah generally attend before school, getting up 4-5am, depending on their family routine and when school starts, and class is usually an hour. During the darkest days of the year we often got out and headed to school just as the sun was rising, and as a passenger I was able to pay this otherworldly beauty more attention than my parents or older siblings who were driving. I also was far more likely to have been up all night, and much more awake at that moment than anyone else, since my circadian rhythm has always been off.

I will attempt, because the weather is right, to try and capture this on my phone's camera hopefully at least once over the next few mornings, because when I mention it, no one seems to believe me. I am given a "sure whatever you say Rory" kind of look, and a sympathetic smile, because I'm a dreamer, and an artist, and I see what others do not see.

To be clear, I've watched sunrises in Illinois during similar weather where the criteria would be met, in Virginia Beach, Virginia, and in various places throughout the US on road trips when I'm loading up the car. I've seen lots of beautiful sunrises, but never THIS sky.