THIS IS A FIRE RAINBOW - THE RAREST OF ALL NATURALLY OCCURRING ATMOSPHERIC PHENOMENA. THE PICTURE WAS CAPTURED RECENTLY ON THE IDAHO/WASHINGTON BORDER. THE EVENT LASTED ABOUT 1 HOUR.
CLOUDS HAVE TO BE CIRRUS, AT LEAST 20K FEET IN THE AIR, WITH JUST THE RIGHT AMOUNT OF ICE CRYSTALS AND THE SUN HAS TO HIT THE CLOUDS AT PRECISELY 58 DEGREES.
THE NORTHERN LIGHTS
Since the Fire Rainbow is one of the rarest of naturally occurring atmospheric phenomena, I don't aspire ever to see it. However, for a quite some time, I have longed to see the Northern Lights. One day....
Thanks to Doug for the gorgeous pictures.
I have seen both in Wyoming but I want to go to Alaska and see the Northern Lights in full majesty.
ReplyDeleteAnn, I'm sinfully jealous, green with envy.
ReplyDeleteAlaska would be good.
I don't know if I've ever seen, precisely, a "Fire Rainbow", but I have seen prism-like refracting events in the clouds.
ReplyDeleteThey always leave me staring, dumbfounded. SDG!
I, too, have always wanted to see the Northern Lights. Michigan in the winter can seem a Northern wasteland, but apparently still not (in my part anyway) northern enuff... :-/
Huh: Blogger's made another change. I can sign in as "Name/URL", and get the Post-Delete icon (the little trashcan) now. (Hopefully, I've now made my last double-post left standing! ;-p)
ReplyDeleteOnce we saw the northern lights in California!! It was magical fun with all three kids jumping in the car with us and driving away from town to gaze at the sky. It was March 31, 2001...I remember the date because my son thought it was an April fools joke at first when I told him. And my daughter's friend drove out of Butte Creek Canyon to see them with us, and I remember them talking and laughing long into the night. Sweet memories.
ReplyDeleteWhen I did an interim in Alpena, Michigan I saw a picture in the morning paper of the Northern Lights I missed by not going outside the night before. Darn. Still haven't seen them and Maine is pretty far north.
ReplyDeleteJCF, Blogger has made some changes lately that I don't much like. I lost the trashcan once, and I got it back by angrily clicking the spot where it should be. What a surprise that was.
ReplyDeleteLisa, that sounds lovely. I'll bet the kids were over the moon.
Amelia, what a disappointment. I don't know that I'd ever recover from that.
Joel and I saw the northern lights when we lived in the tiny hamlet of Riverton in Connecticut --in about 1982... it was so awesome we went out in the meadow in the backyard... and we didn't just dance, if you know what I mean!
ReplyDeleteMargaret, lucky you and Joel. I'm a little thick, so can you clarify for us all what "...and we didn't just dance" means?
ReplyDeleteI do miss the Northern Lights. I can remember my mother waking me sometimes for particularly spectacular ones. I'm really glad she did, even if I was grumpy the next day.
ReplyDeleteI'm further north, geographically, than I was most of the time that I lived in Canada, but not as near magnetic north. And in London it's hard to see much other than clouds and light pollution.
Grandmere -- you know, what King Carter here on The James would call a "flourish" --you know! A romantic fling!!!
ReplyDeleteSong, how wonderful to have the memory.
ReplyDeleteOoooh thaaat, Margaret! I understand now.
Thank you for those pictures!
ReplyDeleteI live in Fresno, CA...and this morning at 11:30am, I captured a strange phenomenon in our skies on my BlackBerry. It was Northern Lights....in broad daylight!!
I've been to Alaska 6 times inas many years, and have NEVER had the blessing of seeing the NL's while visiting. Who would have thought that in the middle of a hot Fresno day, I'd finally see them?!?!?!
Miss Michelle, how lovely that you saw the Northern Lights in the daytime in Fresno, after missing them all the times you were in Alaska.
ReplyDeleteOne day....