Rare Fire Rainbow
Trekking through Washington's Cascades last spring after summiting Old Snowy Mountain. We had just packed up base camp to head home, when we saw the sky st...
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Trekking through Washington's Cascades last spring after summiting Old Snowy Mountain. We had just packed up base camp to head home, when we saw the sky start to change colors, and a beautiful illusion of light appeared above the mountain! What we saw was a rare phenomenon called a Fire Rainbow! The Rainbow appears on what is called a circumhorizontal arc.. On an obvious horizontal plain instead of its usual 2D upside down U arc. The conditions have to to just right for this phenomenon to happen.
The horizon for one to occur – and you have to be lucky enough to have cirrus clouds around at the same time. As a result of the necessary height of the sun you will not see a fire rainbow north of fifty five degrees – and likewise further south of the magic fifty five degrees. You may occasionally see one if you are high up on a mountain further south or north, but it is unlikely. The ice crystals in the cirrus cloud have to be horizontal to refract the sun. If they are then an arc may be formed.
It is vital that the crystal is aligned just so as otherwise the light will not separate in to the rainbow-like colors we expect. If the alignment is correct then the whole cirrus cloud will “explode” in to a flaming, fire rainbow.
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The horizon for one to occur – and you have to be lucky enough to have cirrus clouds around at the same time. As a result of the necessary height of the sun you will not see a fire rainbow north of fifty five degrees – and likewise further south of the magic fifty five degrees. You may occasionally see one if you are high up on a mountain further south or north, but it is unlikely. The ice crystals in the cirrus cloud have to be horizontal to refract the sun. If they are then an arc may be formed.
It is vital that the crystal is aligned just so as otherwise the light will not separate in to the rainbow-like colors we expect. If the alignment is correct then the whole cirrus cloud will “explode” in to a flaming, fire rainbow.
Read less
May, 2016Views
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