Cool ‘fire rainbow’ clouds grace sunny summer skies over Western Washington

Have you noticed any clouds that appear to be a rainbow….only it’s not raining?

Summertime in Seattle means it’s that season where you can spot amazing circumhorizontal arcs – or what some people colloquially call “fire rainbows” (though they have nothing to do with actual fire.)

The photos by Brendan Ramsey were captured Monday, while Chuck Gauthier’s photos were taken in Port Townsend earlier this month.

The colorful displays are caused when the cloud and sun angle are just right so that sunlight is refracted in the ice crystals in those thin, high cirrus clouds.

The precise refractions only occurs when the sun is at least 58 degrees above the horizon, so that makes it mostly a summertime occurrence. The farther north you go, the shorter the season.

In the Seattle area, the sun is only that high on the horizon around the few hours around solar noon (1 p.m. PDT) and in the 6 weeks either side of the summer solstice. In a few weeks, the sun will be too low to see this again until next May.