Stunning sun halos wow locals in Minnesota

This stunning video shows halos of light around the sun - or 'sun dogs' - captured with picturesque snowy backdrops and bright blue sky.

Amateur photographer Carol Bauer, 57, headed out into Graceville, Minnesota, USA, on Wednesday afternoon (05/01) to record the phenomena.

Sun dogs, or parhelia, are caused when sunlight is refracted by ice crystals in the air, causing a ring of light to appear around the sun.

Grandmother-of-five Carol and her husband Chuck Bauer, 59, spotted the rings flanking forests, behind a school and atop snow-covered fields.

She said: "I think they are special and unique unlike the rainbows only the people in the really cold weather can observe them.

"In just the really wide-open spots they look large and beautiful.

"Sometimes we just open the sun roof on [Chuck's] pickup to see them or photograph them, so now I call it the sun dog roof.

"I just don’t ever tire of seeing the beauty in nature."

The temperature was -5°C, but the wind chill was -31°C, and the sun dogs were visible after a strong blizzard the night before.

All videos were taken on January 5 2022 at 2pm.