Mt. Rainier fire rainbow
© Jason Shipley/Uniquely Northwest Photograph
The summer sun and just a hint of high clouds combined for quite the show up along Mt. Rainier Tuesday.

Jason Shipley with Uniquely Northwest Photography was driving near Mt. Rainier National Park when he spotted this "fire rainbow" (official name: Circumhorizontal arc) hovering in the sky, and had to pull over to snap a couple of photos:

But he says just as quick as it appeared, it disappeared. That's because to get this somewhat-rare phenomenon, the sun has to be higher than 58 degrees altitude in the sky -- which only happens just around midday in the summertime in the Seattle area. Then you have to have the right shaped ice crystal in the cloud aligned at just the perfect angle to the sunlight for the refraction effect to work.


It's the second time the fire rainbows have put on a show (that we've seen) this summer. Find more photos and an extended explanation in this earlier blog entry.