Ever seen a 'fire rainbow cloud'?

National News and Pictures

This image, captured by photographer Ken Rotberg, shows an extremely rare phenomenon known as a 'circumhorizon arc' - which is the posh word for a fire rainbow cloud.

As Ken was walking to his home in south Florida one evening recently, he noticed the beautifully strange sight as the sun passed behind a storm cloud. Luckily he had his camera with him. The clouds seemed to be floating over rainbow-coloured shapes which danced in front of his eyes.

Want to know the science behind it? Apparently, it's to do with cumulus clouds pushing layers of moist air upwards, forming cloud caps. Water droplets from these create the rainbow effect.

We have to confess we've never heard of a fire rainbow cloud, but we're quite enjoying adding it to our collection of strange rainbow effects.

First there there was the rarewhite rainbow in the North Pole and thelunar rainbow in Victoria Falls. Oh, and then there was the surfer's rainbow captured in Tahiti.

We can feel a rainbow gallery coming on. But for now, let's make do with some pictures of other strange weather-related phenomena...

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