Is this a snowbow?

[Ally McGurk]

This strange, pale, diffuse bow appeared in the winter sky the other day. It wasn’t actually snowing where I was standing, but I know it was snowing nearby, and it came to us later. At first it appeared quite colourless, but looking more closely there was colour in it. It wasn’t nice and shapely like a standard rainbow though and the colours were quite faint. I have several photos of it, and this link will take you to the set of them on Flickr. I’d love to be able to put a name to it.

 

[Gregory Venarsky]

Hello Ally,

I believe it may be a snowbow! I assume the sun was low on the horizon and the snow nearby was behind you in this instance. I believe these are also relatively rare. Great capture!

-Greg

[Ally McGurk]

Thanks Greg. Not sure where the snow was, but being a winter afternoon, the sun would certainly have been low in the sky. It certainly wasn’t a standard rainbow!

[Gregory Venarsky]

Not by any standard! Great capture! If anyone else would like to weigh in, please do so!

[Hans Stocker]

I found this link about the possibility of seeing a rainbow in the snow (a so called snowbow): Can snow form snowbows?.

The bow we see here is rather faint and colorless although there still are some reds and blues. This is a cloudbow or fogbow. The sizes of the droplets that make this bow appear, are smaller than the ones that usually form a rainbow with distinct colors. It is explained here: Cloudbow.

I hope you like it. Great image Ally!

[Ally McGurk]

Thanks Hans. Interesting reading!

[Author]

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