A ‘Fire Rainbow’ Spotted At The North Carolina Outer Banks
It’s a weather phenomenon that you don’t see often and certainly not in the summer off the coast of North Carolina. A fire rainbow was spotted at the North Carolina Outer Banks. And it has weather officials a little puzzled.
A ‘Fire Rainbow’ Spotted At The North Carolina Outer Banks
You would think ‘fire rainbows” are actually rainbows as the name implies. Not So. According to our source, the Charlotte Observer, a fire rainbow is not bow shaped. They are actually “horizontal cracks in the sky that bleeds colors”. Sometimes they are shaped like flames so it makes an unusual site in the sky. And here comes the really strange part. Ice crystals are required for this event to happen. So officials are baffled how this happened on a summer day in the Outer Banks.
A Strange Phenomenon For The Outer Banks In The Summertime
In a direct quote published in the Charlotte Observer from the Cape Lookout National Seashore: “To make it (fire rainbow) happen, the Sun needs to be about 60 degrees above the horizon and there should be cirrus clouds in the sky. Cirrus clouds are formed at high levels and are mainly composed of ice crystal. …The ice crystals have to be aligned horizontally for the light to pass through and create the horizontal rainbow.”
All these conditions came together reportedly on Friday August 23. The light at Cape Lookout travels about 15 miles out to sea. Some people believe that a fire rainbow has spiritual connections.
