Formally known as a circumhorizontal arc or circumhorizon arc (CHA), it appeared horizontal in the sky, rather than making an arc towards the earth.
Spotted at lunchtime yesterday, the person who took it said she spotted it high up in the sky - and only just managed to capture what was left of it on her phone camera as it disappeared.
"I've never seen one like it before as it was horizontal rather than vertical and was a lot clearer before I managed to take a photograph," she said. Not wishing to be named, she said she had to tip her head right back to see it. "I just wish I had been able to get it on camera before it disappeared."
This was another one spotted earlier this month, when a few were spotted over northern England.
Research shows that the fire rainbow is a "halo or an optical phenomenon similar in appearance to a horizontal rainbow, but in contrast caused by the refraction of light through the ice crystals in cirrus clouds".
They occur only when the sun is very high in the sky (more than 58° above the horizon) and the hexagonal ice crystals that make up cirrus clouds must be shaped like thick plates with their faces parallel to the ground, according to National Geographic.
The UK's latitude means the sun is rarely at a high enough angle to produce fire rainbows, but they are a far more common sight in low-latitude countries such as the US. North of Copenhagen, they cannot be seen at all, says Atmospheric Optics.
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