Sunday, August 29, 2010

Upside-down rainbow!

My husband was out barbecuing hamburgers for dinner.  He came in the house and said there he could see  a rainbow if he stood by the loquat tree and looked straight up. I thought maybe he had to many too gold fish crackers or something (couldn't blame it on beer as he hasn't had one today! lol) because it hasn't rained at all here.

 Being one who LOVES rainbow I went out to look anyway, just in case. (And smartly grabbed my camera!)  I stood by the loquat tree as directed and scanned the sky.  At first I didn't see it  as I was "just" looking over roof lines and tree lines.  When he said "look straight up" he really meant straight up! When I finally looked straight up this is what I saw - an upside rainbow!

No, I have not altered the photos, this is the "rainbow" as I saw it..I didn't have any landmarks (like trees or buildings) so I had my son stand in the frame to get a little perspective.  The battery on my camera was dying so I only got the 4 shots.  By the time my son ran in the house,  grabbed his camera and got back outside it was gone.

I searched the Internet for "upside down rainbow"  and found that technically it is called a "circumzenithal arc". It happens by sunlight refracting through a thin layer of ice crystals high in the atmosphere.  You can click the link to read more about the "smile in the sky!

Have a fabulous week!

5 comments:

  1. That's gorgeous, and I can't help but think it's a sign that something wonderful is about to happen. I don't believe in bad omens, but I'm a HUGE believer in good ones!

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  2. I saw a pic of an upside down rainbow on the news here about a month ago. The weather man explained about the sunlight on ice crystals.
    I've only seen about 4 or 5 rainbows in my lifetime but never did I experience an upside down one. Must have been cool to see it with your own eyes.

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  3. Now that is just TOO cool! A smiling rainbow. WOW!

    xo Sherry

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  4. Wow, really cool Linda! And how great that you got a shot of it!

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  5. that is so cool...I've never seen an upside down rainbow!!!

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