Colours In The Clouds – Circumhorizontal “Fire Rainbow” Arc

icon1 Posted by BatM in Computers, My Eyes on 05 12th, 2009 | 4 responses

Okay.. So bear with me on this one… (read first comment for explaination)

I’m no scientist so I can’t explain exactly what it was, however I did get the phone out and took some shots before the phone battery died. From what I could see, the cloud texture represented that in the same as a “Sand Dune” that has had the wind blown over it to create “Natural Waves” (like the WindowsXP Background. Or “Beach Sand” that has had a gentle stream of water flowing over it…

Anyway on to my snaps! Please keep in mind that I took these shots through the front windscreen of the truck with my phone… Please note.. The truck had nothing to do with the “Colour” in the sky. I would have taken a shot out of my side window but again as I said before, my phone died.

It could quite simply be the same “Spectrum” reaction that causes rainbows. But as you can see in the second shot, the colour is above the sun (the first shot the colour is close to the sun).

All shots are resized to 500px width.

Shot 1 – Original:

Shot 1 – Zoomed:

Shot 1 – Zoomed and Circled:

This is the second shot

Shot 2 – Original:

Shot 2 – Zoomed:

Shot 2 – Zoomed & Circled:

If I had the chance to take higher qual shots, I would have!

Can anyone explain this to me? :D

4 Responses to “Colours In The Clouds – Circumhorizontal “Fire Rainbow” Arc”

  1. BatM says:
    May 18, 2009 at 16:47

    Turns out these things are called “Circumhorizontal Arc’s” or “Fire Rainbows”…..

    “”A circumhorizontal fire rainbow arc occurs at a rare confluence of right time and right place for the sun and certain clouds. Crystals within the clouds refract light into the various visible waves of the spectrum but only if they are arrayed correctly relative to the ground below. Due to the rarity with which all of these events happen in conjunction with one another, there are relatively few remarkable photos of this phenomena.”" – From an email sent to me by Tobi

    Fire Rainbow

    It looked very much like the big image in the bottom section :D (would have loved to see the rest behind the thick clouds at the front.

  2. Colours In The Clouds - Circumhorizontal “Fire Rainbow” Arc - BatM « Windows 7 Live Info says:
    May 19, 2009 at 14:11

    [...] BatM wrote an interesting post today onColours In The Clouds – Circumhorizontal â??Fire Rainbowâ?? Arc – BatM b…/bHere’s a quick excerpt [...]

  3. Cynthia J. Wilson says:
    June 12, 2009 at 00:09

    My husband and I were at Niagara-on the -Lake, June 10,2009 about 1:35 p.m.(Near the clock tower,looking north) and noticed people looking up to the sky. Low and behold there was this beautiful sight of “clouds on fire” the colours were breathtaking, unfortunately no camera on hand.
    Q.How often does this cloud burst phenomena happen and and at what times of the year?

  4. BatM says:
    June 12, 2009 at 11:01

    Hi, thanks for the comment. They are very spectacular aren’t they? :D

    Apparently (I did a little reading up on it) this sort of thing is TOTALY random. There is no specific time of year or location. It is all to do with the angle of the sun and certain thicker “Cloud” particles. Also, there are not many documented sightings either. Also, you can’t see it above a certain point in the Northern Hemisphere, or below a certain place in the Southern Hemisphere.

    The images above in the comment section is a join together of pretty much every one that has been snapped.

    So like me, feel a little privilaged to witness something that many others will “Just Never See”. Just unlucky you didn’t get any pics :( … Always have a camera :D

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