FLAGSTAFF, Ariz. - Yesenia De Garcia captured this photo of a rare "fire rainbow" in Flagstaff.
Despite the name, fire rainbows have nothing to do with fire – other than their flame-like appearance.
Also called a circumhorizontal arc, a fire rainbow happens when sunlight enters flat, hexagonal ice crystals and gets split into individual colors, like in a prism, according to the National Weather Service.
The ice crystals are usually suspended in thin, wispy cirrus clouds high up in the atmosphere.
They’re so rare because the sun must be high in the sky, and light must hit the ice crystals at just the right angle, according to the National Weather Service.
Cool time lapse of the fire rainbow in Flagstaff! We don't get these much often! #beon12 @UnivisionAZ @12News pic.twitter.com/VCTmYiPBmN
— Yesenia De Garcia (@YeseniaNAZToday) June 23, 2016
