Image via C. Martin on Flickr ^[1]

While sitting on my rooftop patio this evening, I noticed a large ring around the moon. Although it was quite a lovely site, the reasoning for it is not so lovely. According to Nasa: ^[2]

The ring around the Moon is caused by the reflection of Moonlight from ice crystals in the upper atmosphere. The shape of the ice crystals results in a focusing of the light into a ring. Since the ice crystals typically have the same shape, namely a hexagonal shape, the Moon ring is always the same size.

More importantly, a ring around the moon is a sign of bad weather to come–rain or snow.

Some Web sites said the ring means the fairies are dancing, and others said the number of stars within the ring will predict the amount of days until bad weather.

I saw neither fairies nor stars, but I don’t have to be a scientist or a genius or a genius scientist to know rain is coming our way. Tomorrow. By at least noon. And for a minimum of 10 days ^[3], to be exact.

Welcome to fall, Seattle.