Images of the “fire cloud” seen over Echo Park

Posted by Kelly on Wednesday, July 18th, 2012 at 1:07 PM
in Pictures | 1 comment

For those of you lucky enough to be outdoors today, the “rainbow in the clouds” event produced some impressive photos all over the social media networks. A savvy Facebook fan pointed out that the phenomenon is known as a “circumhorizontal arc,” or “fire clouds.”

A Wikipedia article has educated us on the phenomenon: Taking place usually when the sun is at its highest point in the sky, producing not fire nor a rainbow, but reflections from ice crystals in high cirrus clouds. This one wasn’t a full arc, but just a small, patchy fragment.

Check out the photos collected from various sources and followers below!