Dear Tom,
I live in Beverly Shores, Indiana and on a few occasions around sunset I have seen a
view of the Chicago skyline that resembles a "bar code". Can you explain what is going
on?
-Patricia Kieta
Dear Patricia,
What you are seeing is a magnification of Chicago's shoreline resulting from
a temperature inversion where warm air is layered above colder air found
near the surface of the lake. This inversion bends rays of light from the
city back toward the colder, denser air above the lake creating a "towering"
effect where objects become magnified and stretched like high walls. This
type of mirage is sometimes called a Fata Morgana (Italian for Morgan the
fairy). The name comes from the fairy-like castle mirages that frequently
appear over the Strait of Messina separating Italy and Sicily. Morgana was
the mythical fairy who lived in a crystal palace beneath the waves.
