Photos: Fire rainbow spotted over Boston area

A partial rainbow appeared over Boston this weekend, leading several people on social media to question why it looked the way it did.

Sharing photos of the phenomenon from different viewing spots around the Boston area, people took to Reddit and X to ask why a beautiful band of colors amid the clouds on Sunday afternoon had the unusual shape.

“Happy Pride?” someone commented on one of the Reddit posts in reference to the start of June, which is Pride month for the LGBTQ+ community.

Rainbow?!
byu/hevertonmg inboston

Andy Nash, meteorologist-in-charge of the National Weather Service Boston/Norton, confirmed to Boston.com that the photos shared on social media appear to show a “circumhorizontal arc,” also known as a fire rainbow.

Nash clarified that he is not an expert on the phenomenon but provided as much information as he could, explaining that a circumhorizontal arc is caused by “sunlight going through ice crystals in some very high cirrus clouds.”

The clouds have to be in the right position toward the sun, which is why people only see what looks to be a piece of a rainbow, the meteorologist added.

Nash could not speak to how often circumhorizontal arcs occur but said it really depends on a number of factors happening at the same time including a specific shape of ice crystals in the right orientation with the sun high enough in the sky.

Check out some of the photos shared on social media below:

Anyone see this?
byu/reiamarie inboston

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