A Fire Rainbow over West Virginia | Earth Science

A Fire Rainbow over West Virginia | Earth Science

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.

West Virginia is a mountainous, landlocked state in the Southern and Mid-Atlantic regions of the United States. It is bordered by Pennsylvania and Maryland to the northeast, Virginia to the southeast, Kentucky to the southwest, and Ohio to the northwest. 

Image Credit & Copyright: Christa Harbig

Location: North Fork Mountain, West Virginia, United States

Christa's website: 

https://www.facebook.com/christa.harbig.photos/
Release Date: Aug. 2, 2026

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