Every now and then, we see something so weird that we just have to whip out a camera. As we snap the shot, we think to ourselves, “What on Earth is THAT?”
CC image by kubina on Flickr (West Virginia)
Well, in this case, THAT is a circumhorizontal arc, known popularly as a “fire rainbow.” Though this nickname is quite imaginative, it is a bit of a misnomer, considering that a circumhorizontal arc is neither made of fire nor a rainbow.
CC image by Dehk on Wikipedia (Michigan)
These arcs are produced when light from the sun hits ice crystals in the clouds at a very precise angle.
CC image by dgmiami on Flickr (Florida)
CC image by Ashamar on Flickr (Iowa)
Interestingly, were the sky filled with clouds, instead of looking like a colorful patch of fire in the sky, the circumhorizontal arc would actually look like a ring-shaped rainbow encircling the sun. However, because of its tendency to appear in patchy clouds, we tend to only see a small piece of it. Here is a fuller image of one:
CC image by Fancy-cats-are-happy-cats on Wikipedia (Oregon)
The fire rainbow is the fainter arc at the bottom of that image. You can see that the colors seem to bow around the sun.
Because of its relation to the sun, the United States is a great place to see these arcs during the summer months; in fact, all of the images on this page are from the United States! They are harder to witness in areas like Europe, where the sun spends less time at a high enough angle to produce this effect.
CC image by eaghra on Flickr (Wisconsin)
CC image by eaghra on Flickr (Wisconsin)
You can bet that if I see any of these, I’ll have my camera out in a matter of seconds. Though there are, meteorologically speaking, a lot of opportunities to see these phenomena in the United States, actually noticing one during the rush of a busy day would have to be a once in a lifetime experience.
CC image by matt_hecht on Flickr (New Jersey)
Share these photos with someone you love. You never know – maybe there’s a fire rainbow somewhere near you right now!
