Good Friday Special Event –
Fire Rainbows
On the afternoon of April 15, Good Friday, residents of Western North Carolina were treated to a beautiful atmospheric phenomenon. Photos uploaded on social media depicted what is described as a “fire rainbow” or “rainbow clouds,” as some Twitter users referred to them.
The pre-Easter optical phenomenon is called a “circumhorizontal arc” because it is caused by sunlight reflecting off ice crystals. The sun must be higher in the sky than 58 degrees to see this ice halo, and high cirrus clouds or aircraft contrails must be present to make this beautiful spectacle possible.
To generate this effect, a careful equilibrium in the atmosphere is required.
Inside the cirrus clouds, the hexagonal, plate-shaped ice crystals must also be oriented horizontally so that light entering from the vertical side of the crystals refracts, bends, and exits through the horizontal bottom. As a result, the light is dispersed into the seven hues of the spectrum, much like a rainbow.
Circumhorizontal arcs are not uncommon over the United States, but they are more common in the tropics.They are not visible in Arctic places because the sun is never high enough in the sky to allow this delicate balance of components to occur.
Recentclimate – Good Friday Special Event – Fire Rainbows
Reference – Fire Rainbows Good Friday Special Event