One southwest resident managed to not only keep an eye on the sky but also capture a rare double weather phenomenon. 

Shelby Christensen, who lives and works in Elrose, was taking a break outside when she looked up and spotted what was a very clear sun dog. She took out her phone to take a snapshot of the halo when she happened to capture another odd detail in the sky.

Resting atop the sun dog was what Environment and Climate Change Canada Meteorologist Terri Lang identified as a circumzenithal arc. 

The full photo containing both the sun dog and the circumzenithal arc. The full photo containing both the sun dog and the circumzenithal arc. 

"Those are relatively rare, just because you need a certain type of ice crystal and certain types of things going on in the atmosphere to get them," said Lang. "They most commonly show up with other halos."

A circumzenithal arc is similar to a rainbow, in that it displays the visual spectrum of light in an arc. The difference is that it only appears when there is light shining through ice crystals in the atmosphere. This means it actually belongs to the same family of weather phenomena as sundogs, although they are much rarer. 

Lang was happy to see the photo, seeing how common sun dogs are, but how rare it is to ever see a circumzenithal arc, let alone resting perfectly atop a sun dog. 

For Christensen, she is happy to have captured something out of the ordinary.

"I was getting out of the shop for the day and looked up and thought that was pretty cool," said Christensen. "I mean, I've seen the full ring around the sun, but to actually see that half circle above it, I thought that was pretty neat."

If anyone else happened to take a photo of this pair of weather treasures, they may want to show off to their friends the amazing find they made. 

Should you or anyone you know happen to photo something out of the ordinary or extraordinary, you can submit the image to news@swiftcurrentonline.com to share your story and your findings.