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I went out early on the morning following this ice/snow weather event since there are always many things to photograph under these conditions. I noticed this field of corn stalks a little before dawn and decided to use it as a foreground to capture the light of the coming sunrise. It was not extremely cold but there was not yet any water on the surface of the ice, and a sun pillar is slightly discernable. This phenomenon is very interesting and picturesque, and occurs when the local atmosphere contains very small planar ice crystals. Due to their flat shape, the crystals orient themselves with their flat surfaces parallel to the earth as they slowly fall through the atmosphere. The crystals that are directly in line with the sun therefore reflect the light most strongly, and the reflections fall off very quickly as the angle from the sun increases. This effect forms the characteristic vertical "pillar" of light.