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© Misty Dawn/FacebookFire rainbow - taken over east Saint John.
A rare weather phenomenon known as "fire rainbow" was spotted over Saint John from several people in the region.

Peter Coade, a CBC meteorologist, said fire rainbow is a rare phenomenon that is formally known as circumhorizontal arc.

Coade said the colourful cloud formation requires very specific conditions to be in place.

"When the sun is very high in the sky, sunlight entering flat, hexagon shaped ice crystals gets split into individual colours just like in a prism," he said.

"The conditions required are very precise - the sun has to be at an elevation of 58° or greater, there must be high altitude cirrus clouds with plate-shaped ice crystals and sunlight has to enter the ice crystals at a specific angle."

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© Karen Gillespie-Thorne/FacebookImage of fire rainbow taken over nature park area of Saint John
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© Tanya Cormier/FacebookFire rainbow over a beach in Saint John.