I'm Caitlin, a 21 year old queer lady artist, would-be student, feminist and fan nerd.
The fire rainbow is the rarest of all naturally occurring phenomena. The clouds must be cirrus and at an altitude of 20,000 feet at least. There must be just the right amount of ice crystals present, as well.
The sun has to hit the clouds at exactly 58 degrees. It makes the rainbow appear to be on fire, hence the name. It’s actually cold as ice, though. In the weather world, the phenomena is known as a circumhorizontal arc.
It isn’t a traditional rainbow, per se, but an effect that happens when light passes through wispy cirrus clouds at high altitudes. Even more specifically, the hexagonal ice crystals that make up the cirrus clouds must be shaped like thick plates with their faces parallel to the ground for the fire rainbow to appear.
The light enters through a vertical side face of the hexagon and leaves through the bottom causing the light to refract, or bend, like in a prism. If the crystals are aligned precisely, then the whole cloud lights up as a rainbow.
Man, atmospheric conditions must be perfect around here, then, because I see them all the time. It’s one of my favorite things.
SO THAT IS WHAT IT IS. I see these quite regularly but never knew exactly what was happening there.
Superman by RyanLord
See this? This is the Superman that I adore. This is the one that makes me feel safe. Not the jackass they replaced him with.
Colin and I are taking Sam Nielson’s Advanced Lighting course over on Schoolism, and it is awesome, and GOOD GOD I’m actually happy enough with my most recent assignment to post it.
Sam does the initial loose linework for each assignment, so credit where credit is due for general mountain/cloud placement. :)
-C
