“Fire Rainbow” lights up the NJ sky Tuesday (5/26). Here’s why it happened.

A “fire rainbow” glistened in the daytime sky Tuesday in New Jersey. 

A circumhoriztonal arc, or “fire rainbow”, happens when the white sunlight from the sun is directed toward high clouds. High clouds are made up of ice crystals, which act as a prism, bending the sunlight into the colors you see here. 

While these atmospheric optics bring colorful displays, they aren’t to be confused with your standard rainbow you may get to see following an afternoon thunderstorm.

This circumhorizontal arc is more commonly seen when the sun is higher in the sky during the summer months in the midlatitudes, like New Jersey is.