From Cape Disappointment Lighthouse with a Halo to Washington Coastal Storms Beneath

Published 6/26/24 at 6:45 a.m.
By Oregon Coast Beach Connection

(Ilwaco, Washington) – These days, Ilwaco is one of only two places on the Pacific Northwest coast with two lighthouses. The other is at Newport on the Oregon coast. Here, on the Washington coast , however, the Cape Disappointment Lighthouse was the first along the cape area, starting up in 1856 – about 42 years before the North Head Light went up. (All photos courtesy Angi D Wildt Gallery, Astoria)

This is a place with some stunning moods, too: not just sunny ones.

However, for this curiosity, it took over another 100 years for one really cool coincidence, photographically.

It was like a sun halo – but to be more precise it wasn't really. And it's likely that Astoria's Angi Wildt was not the first to shoot the sun in this cool spot, but it was the first conjunction of a Washington light and the almost-stellar phenomenon that Oregon Coast Beach Connection had seen. It's a fun little photographic moment Wildt captured that verged on a sun halo. See one of those: Colorful Sun Halos

Indeed, this past spring of 2024 was chock full of real sun halos in the skies over the coastlines, with some getting seen on the north Oregon coast and south coast around that very day in May that Wildt snapped this lucky shot.

There was some true serendipity, however.

Wildt – of Angi D Wildt Gallery in Astoria - had literally missed the boat on something else. That's why she ended up here. Serendipity, ya know? She was supposed to catch a boat out of Astoria to watch a yachting event back in early May. Heading to the gallery first, she grabbed some snacks and then found, well, disappointment... before going to Cape Disappointment. STORY CONTINUES....

“I drove into the marina and saw my boat headed out early,” she said. “It really wasn't anyone's fault. It was an email chain snafu. So I decided to hike to Cape Disappointment. I hadn't hiked it since forever, so it was awesome.”

She was walking under a thin layer of clouds which happened to be cirrostratus clouds: which happens to be the right recipe for the most-hallowed halo.

“I just happened to see the clouds breaking over the lighthouse to form that halo,” Wildt said.

Boom. A dash of silliness with, well, something that almost looks heavenly.

With the actual sun halo, you see a large ring around the sun. You can also see this with the moon, which is a bit more common.

Cirrostratus clouds are the only way you'll get to see a sun halo, and the same goes for a moon halo. Halo phenomena along with their wispy cousin the sun dog are created by refraction in the atmosphere, meaning the light is passing through the ice crystals are being bent. With halos, light is usually being bent by 22 degrees, but sometimes at 46 degrees. Difference Between Sun Dogs and Sun Halos: Lovely Oregon Coast Science

It all comes about, according to National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), at around 20,000 feet. They make for a whitish glow around the sun during the day, though there are rainbow colors in there. It's just that the sun's brightness “blows out” the colors (photography term for it) and makes it whitish. That happens with moon halos too, but those can wind up with a rainbow effect – which we've seen a lot of at night in Oregon and Washington this June.

The Stormy Side of the Lighthouse

Wildt is no stranger nor a shirker to getting intense shots of Cape Disappointment Lighthouse. In recent years, she's grabbed some stellar shots of the big waves that are often beneath the 1900s-era landmark.

These shots on this page were snapped from famed (and ironically-named) Waikiki Beach at Ilwaco, where massive breakers take on the ancient cliffs.

The area can definitely be dangerous when it gets like this: you can tell by the gargantuan logs piled up here. That doesn't happen with normal tidal conditions.

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