'Fire rainbow' that enthralled Michigan residents wasn't really a rainbow at all
It wasn't a rainbow, but it was a brilliant atmospheric display that had residents doing a double take when they saw it in the sky.
By
Jesse Ferrell, AccuWeather meteorologist
Published Apr 15, 2022 5:37 PM EDT
|
Updated May 22, 2026 2:15 PM EDT
A 'fire rainbow' in the sky enthralled Michigan residents on May 21, 2026. The phenomenon is known technically as a "circumhorizontal arc" and is created by sunlight reflecting off of ice crystals.
A bright circumhorizontal arc, a type of ice halo, graced the skies of Michigan on May 21, 2026. (Trina Keyes Oskvarek)
A delicate balance in the atmosphere is required to achieve this effect. To see this ice halo, the sun needs to be more than 58 degrees high in the sky, and high cirrus clouds or jet contrails must be present to bring this spectacular display to life. It's more typical only to see a piece of the colorful halo where the cloud is, as happened here, though later a fuller arc was reflected into the clouds.
Circumhorizontal arcs are not entirely rare in the skies over the United States but are more common in the tropics. However, they can not be seen in Arctic areas because the sun never appears high enough in the sky to allow for this delicate balance of ingredients to take place.
A bright circumhorizontal arc, a type of ice halo, graced the skies of Michigan on May 21, 2026. (Trina Keyes Oskvarek)
The hexagonal, plate-shaped ice crystals inside the cirrus clouds also need to be aligned horizontally, so that the light entering through the vertical side of the crystals refracts, bends, and exits through the horizontal bottom. This disperses the light into the seven colors of the spectrum, similar to what we see in a rainbow.
Another 'fire rainbow' in the sky was seen in Newburyport, Massachusetts, residents on June 2, 2024. This particular display looked mysterious, as it was observed through a hole in the cloud deck.
A circumhorizon arc ice halo, also known as a fire rainbow, was sighted through the clouds in Newburyport, Mass. on June 2, 2024.
An unusual circumhorizontal arc occurred on April 15, 2025, in Weatherford Texas. The clouds that the arc was superimposed on are colloquially known as "jellyfish cloud" but their technical name is virga. They are produced when a cloud precipitates out ice crystals underneath it, but ice or rain never reaches the ground.
A rainbow was seen inside a “jellyfish cloud,” in Weatherford, Texas. The combination of land elevation and latitude makes a perfect environment for this to happen.
A video shared on social media on April 25, 2024, showed another example of the phenomenon above Oak Harbor, Ohio.
A fire rainbow in the sky on April 25, 2024 (Alexis M Claybaugh via Storyful)
(Alexis M Claybaugh via Storyful)
Western North Carolina residents were also treated to a colorful atmospheric phenomenon on the afternoon of Good Friday, Apr. 15, 2022. Photos shared on social media showed what is known colloquially as a "fire rainbow" or, as people posting on Twitter referred to them, "rainbow clouds."
Brandon Carter, who captured one of the images, told AccuWeather, "I took the photo in Concord," a suburb of Charlotte that's just northeast of the city. He was driving when he spotted the dazzling spectacle in the sky.
"When I saw it my first thought was to pull over and make sure my daughter could see what became known for the day as 'rainbow clouds,'" Carter, 41, who works in sales and said his true passion is astrophotography, recalled. "It was a great opportunity for my wife and I to talk to her about the science behind rainbows and a really cool moment."
An optical phenomenon known as a 'circumhorizontal arc' treated people in North Carolina to an unusual sight in the skies on Friday, April 15, 2022.
Brandon Carter
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News / Weather News
'Fire rainbow' that enthralled Michigan residents wasn't really a rainbow at all
It wasn't a rainbow, but it was a brilliant atmospheric display that had residents doing a double take when they saw it in the sky.
By Jesse Ferrell, AccuWeather meteorologist
Published Apr 15, 2022 5:37 PM EDT | Updated May 22, 2026 2:15 PM EDT
A 'fire rainbow' in the sky enthralled Michigan residents on May 21, 2026. The phenomenon is known technically as a "circumhorizontal arc" and is created by sunlight reflecting off of ice crystals.
A bright circumhorizontal arc, a type of ice halo, graced the skies of Michigan on May 21, 2026. (Trina Keyes Oskvarek)
A delicate balance in the atmosphere is required to achieve this effect. To see this ice halo, the sun needs to be more than 58 degrees high in the sky, and high cirrus clouds or jet contrails must be present to bring this spectacular display to life. It's more typical only to see a piece of the colorful halo where the cloud is, as happened here, though later a fuller arc was reflected into the clouds.
Circumhorizontal arcs are not entirely rare in the skies over the United States but are more common in the tropics. However, they can not be seen in Arctic areas because the sun never appears high enough in the sky to allow for this delicate balance of ingredients to take place.
A bright circumhorizontal arc, a type of ice halo, graced the skies of Michigan on May 21, 2026. (Trina Keyes Oskvarek)
The hexagonal, plate-shaped ice crystals inside the cirrus clouds also need to be aligned horizontally, so that the light entering through the vertical side of the crystals refracts, bends, and exits through the horizontal bottom. This disperses the light into the seven colors of the spectrum, similar to what we see in a rainbow.
Other recent fire rainbows
Another 'fire rainbow' in the sky was seen in Newburyport, Massachusetts, residents on June 2, 2024. This particular display looked mysterious, as it was observed through a hole in the cloud deck.
A circumhorizon arc ice halo, also known as a fire rainbow, was sighted through the clouds in Newburyport, Mass. on June 2, 2024.
An unusual circumhorizontal arc occurred on April 15, 2025, in Weatherford Texas. The clouds that the arc was superimposed on are colloquially known as "jellyfish cloud" but their technical name is virga. They are produced when a cloud precipitates out ice crystals underneath it, but ice or rain never reaches the ground.
A rainbow was seen inside a “jellyfish cloud,” in Weatherford, Texas. The combination of land elevation and latitude makes a perfect environment for this to happen.
A video shared on social media on April 25, 2024, showed another example of the phenomenon above Oak Harbor, Ohio.
A fire rainbow in the sky on April 25, 2024 (Alexis M Claybaugh via Storyful)
Western North Carolina residents were also treated to a colorful atmospheric phenomenon on the afternoon of Good Friday, Apr. 15, 2022. Photos shared on social media showed what is known colloquially as a "fire rainbow" or, as people posting on Twitter referred to them, "rainbow clouds."
Brandon Carter, who captured one of the images, told AccuWeather, "I took the photo in Concord," a suburb of Charlotte that's just northeast of the city. He was driving when he spotted the dazzling spectacle in the sky.
"When I saw it my first thought was to pull over and make sure my daughter could see what became known for the day as 'rainbow clouds,'" Carter, 41, who works in sales and said his true passion is astrophotography, recalled. "It was a great opportunity for my wife and I to talk to her about the science behind rainbows and a really cool moment."
An optical phenomenon known as a 'circumhorizontal arc' treated people in North Carolina to an unusual sight in the skies on Friday, April 15, 2022.
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