RIYADH: A rare solar halo appeared in the skies over Saudi Arabia’s Rafha Governorate in the Northern Borders Region on Thursday, a phenomenon caused by sunlight refracting and reflecting through ice crystals in the upper atmosphere.

Barjas Al-Fulaih of the AFAQ Society for Astronomy explained that the halo indicated high upper-atmospheric humidity and often signaled upcoming weather changes, depending on shifting climatic factors.