Beautiful ‘Fire Rainbow’ Lights Up Sky, Instagram Feeds

The sky over South Carolina played host to playful fire rainbows for over an hour on Sunday.

Spotted over the Isle of Palms, these ‘fire rainbows’ are officially known as the less catchy but more scientifically acceptable term ‘circumhorizontal arcs’.

Image: 3rdnlong on Instagram

The rainbows are quite rare because of the extremely specific conditions required. First, meteorologist Justin Lock explained to you 14news, you need a certain type of cirrus cloud made up of tiny ice crystals.

Image: Area956 on Instagram

Then, the sun has to be at an altitude of at least 58 degrees above the horizon to hit these crystals at a certain angle - the light and the crystals work together to give off the prism effect seen in the photos.

It’s no surprise that delighted beach-goers took straight to Instagram to show off the photos of the swirling, colourful clouds.

Image: icrw70 on Instagram

Lead image: ginknowsabe on Instagram