Rare Fire Rainbow

Rare Fire Rainbow Streaks Across 4th Of July 2013 Sky

Indiana residents saw a rare weather phenomenon called a fire rainbow streaked across the sky on the 4th of July

A fire rainbow is an alignment of sunlight and cloud ice particles that looks like a horizontal multicolored arc below the sun

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Several people in Indiana got a treat when they looked towards the skies on the 4th of July, but it wasn't fireworks they were seeing.

Residents of Fort Wayne captured photographs of a rare weather phenomenon commonly referred to as a fire rainbow.

Formed by the perfect alignment of sunlight passing through cloud particles, a fire rainbow looks like a horizontal rainbow colored streak scorched across the sky.

Indiana locals were treated to a fire rainbow (pictured here), a rare weather phenomenon, in the sky on the 4th of July

The Indianan's sent in photographs of the phenomena to local News Channel 15, wane.com

The station's excited meteorologist Nicholas Ferreri said that he was pleasantly surprised to see the fire rainbow photos when he came into work.

'This is definitely not something that happens every day,' he told the station's website.

Fire rainbows occur when sunlight and cloud ice particles align perfectly to create a prism that hangs beneath the sun and looks like a rainbow in the shape of flames

Not actually made of fire or a real rainbow, a fire rainbow or circumhorizontal arc appears when sunlight passes through the ice crystals in cirrus clouds, according to the UC Santa Barbara Department of Geography.

When the light and cloud particles are perfectly aligned, the crystals act as a prism and refract the light in what commonly looks like a rainbow.

'The complete halo is a huge and beautiful multicolored band running parallel to the horizon with its center beneath the sun,' the academic institution explains.

News Channel 15 meteorologist Nicholas Ferreri explains what a fire rainbow is, while viewer images are displayed behind him

Ferreri admitted that after receiving the images he had to consult with the National Weather Service to confirm what the prism was.

'At first, we thought it was what's known as a 'sun dog', but it didn't seem to match all the characteristics,' Ferreri said.

'After some digging on both of our ends, one of my meteorologist colleagues, Sam Lashley, at the Northern Indiana National Weather Service Forecast Office was the one who matched it with the characteristics of the rarely occurring 'Fire Rainbow.''

A fire rainbow is not actually fire or a rainbow, and the scientific name for the weather occurrence is actually a circumhorizon arc

A sundog is a halo at the same elevation as the sun, which looks like a bright colored spot in the daytime sky, according to The American Meteorological Society.

He noted that the horizontal pattern of the heavenly occurrence was what helped him and his fellow meteorologists confirm the circumhorizonal arc citing.

'What a neat sight! A 'Fire Rainbow' on the 4th of July,' Ferreri commented on the station's website.

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