Several times a year we see a circumhorizontal arc high up in the wispy clouds. These occur when the sun’s rays pass through flat, hexagonal-shaped ice crystals at a specific angle, causing the rays to bend, like in a prism, and light up the clouds with beautiful colors. This one only lasted for a brief time, but was a joy to see.
“The world is full of magic things, patiently waiting for our senses to grow sharper.” ~W. B. Yeats
walking on a country road 
God paints such beautiful sky scapes.
Thank you Rebecca for these images. I’ve photographed this phenomenon in the Mojave National Preserve here in California.
To see one is quite a nice surprise to ones day. 🙂 If you have published the one you saw on your blog, I would love to have a link. I bet it would really be beautiful out in the vast desert sky.
He surely does! New ones every day.
Thank you for the explanation – I’ve never been lucky enough to see this sight, so thank you for sharing it Rebecca.
It’s always a surprise when you look up and there it is. 🙂
That’s for sure – one day I got to the Park and it was very gray so I had the camera with me in its pouch, but never took it out and really didn’t intend to. As I walked through the parking lot, a ray of sunshine burst through the dark clouds – a brilliant and bright ray. It lasted maybe 30 seconds – I wish I had caught it but it was gone before I had a chance to unzip my coat, get the camera, etc.
I hate it when that happens. 🙂