'It's incredible to see': Light pillars captured in northern Manitoba's winter sky

Manitoba Hydro shared the photo of the light pillars which were captured at the Keewatinohk Converter Station near Gillam in February 2022. (Source: Mark Matwick/Manitoba Hydro)

A Manitoba Hydro employee in Northern Manitoba captured a spectacular sight in the winter sky – pillars of light shooting up into the atmosphere.

Manitoba Hydro shared the photos of the light pillars which were captured at the Keewatinohk Converter Station near Gillam.

"That's probably one of the best photos of light pillars I've ever seen," said Justin Anderson, a full-time northern lights photographer based in Brandon, and co-creator of the Manitoba Aurora and Astronomy Facebook page.

While it makes for quite the display, Anderson said the explanation for what causes it is pretty simple – ice crystals floating in the sky and reflecting the light upwards.

"It will reflect that light upwards into the atmosphere and it'll go hundreds of feet," he said. "It looks like hundreds of feet for us, but really it's going miles in the air and it looks incredible."

It's a rare sight to see around southern Manitoba. Anderson said there is usually only about seven or eight showings of light pillars per year that are half decent, as conditions have to be perfect. However, Manitoba Hydro says they are less rare in northern Manitoba where the extreme cold makes for some brilliant examples.

"It's incredible to see. It's like one of the coolest things you can see underneath the night sky besides the northern lights," Anderson said.

He said one of the best aspects of light pillars is the fact that anyone can see and photograph them.

"While you still can see the northern lights with your naked eye, a camera does a lot of magic behind the scenes that really amplify the picture. When it comes to light pillars, you don't need a fancy camera to take photos of them," he said.

"It's a pretty cool phenomenon to see."