Thousands of lucky people in New Zealand witnessed an extremely rare “fire rainbow” earlier this month.
Videos by InspireMore
According to The Bharat Post, the spectacle filled the sky over the Nelson region, which is in the upper north-western portion of the country’s South Island. It lit up with vivid shades of green, gold, and pinks.
Fire rainbows, or circumhorizontal arcs, happen when sunlight refracts through flat ice crystals in high-altitude cirrus clouds when the sun’s elevation is greater than 58°.
Video and photos from the event show the colors painting the sky inside an enormous puff of clouds. The region was double-lucky. A fire rainbow was also spotted in the same area less than one month earlier.
Commenters on social media were shocked by the sight, and many were so stunned that they feared they were being tricked by AI. But most people were touched by the power of Mother Nature.
“This better not be AI,” one person wrote! “We deserve this beauty.”
“Nature is the greatest painter😍,” another shared.
“Glorious! This is when I regain my faith in Earth’s future,” someone gushed.
“Its a lucky phenomenon, i saw it last year, when everythin in life was going down, people leaving, things changing, relationships breaking,” someone admitted. “And it felt just so exhausting to even exist.”
Unfortunately, most of us will never have the chance to see a fire rainbow in person. Not only do the elements have to align perfectly, but they can only occur at latitudes north or south of 55∘N or they’re impossible to see.
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