A Fire Rainbow over West Virginia

What's happening to this cloud? Ice crystals in a distant cirrus cloud are acting like little floating prisms.

Known informally as a fire rainbow for its flame-like appearance, a circumhorizon arc appears parallel to the horizon. For a circumhorizontal arc to be visible, the Sun must be at least 58 degrees high in a sky where cirrus clouds present below -- in this case cirrus fibratus.

The numerous, flat, hexagonal ice-crystals that compose the cirrus cloud must be aligned horizontally to properly refract sunlight in a collectively similar manner. Therefore, circumhorizontal arcs are somewhat unusual to see.

The featured fire rainbow was photographed in 2021 near North Fork Mountain in West Virginia, USA. Sky Surprise: What picture did APOD feature on your birthday?

© Christa Harbig