Rainbow Bright

From Drop Box

I saw this yesterday, while driving to Krispy Kreme. Of course, I had to snap a few photos off. With a little googleing, I learned this phenomenon was called a circumhorizontal arc. Supposedly, they are somewhat a rare sight, but I've actually seen more of these in the past couple of years, than I have rainbows. (I've taken some pictures of the others I've seen, but I can't locate those at the moment.) An excerpt from a NationalGeographic.com news article states:
"The arc isn't a rainbow in the traditional sense—it is caused by light passing through wispy, high-altitude cirrus clouds. The sight occurs only when the sun is very high in the sky (more than 58° above the horizon). What's more, the hexagonal ice crystals that make up cirrus clouds must be shaped like thick plates with their faces parallel to the ground.
When light enters through a vertical side face of such an ice crystal and leaves from the bottom face, it refracts, or bends, in the same way that light passes through a prism. If a cirrus's crystals are aligned just right, the whole cloud lights up in a spectrum of colors."

The whole phenomenon kinda blows my mind, considering how hot it's been lately. It's just hard to fathom, that up there in our Florida sky, there are ice crystals, perfectly aligned, creating prisms for light to pass through and put on an amazing display for us. I just wish some of those crystals could make their way down to the ground without melting- Now that, would be a phenomenon! If you happen to google: circumhorizontal arc, you are bound to find even more spectacular displays of this special sight.