It’s just sunlight refracted by ice crystals, but this ‘fire rainbow’ is awesome.

Nature can be pretty awesome, as in inspiring a sense of awe.

Such is the case with the circumhorizon arc – a natural phenomena that occurs when sunlight is refracted by ice crystals suspended in the atmosphere, sending off a halo of colors that appears as a rainbow of fire in the sky.

The National Weather Service Bay Area tweeted out photos of one such “fire rainbow,” taken by a runner at Pinnacles National Park on Tuesday. The park is in the Coast Range near the San Andreas Fault southwest of Fresno.

Fire rainbows are fairly common in the U.S. during the summer, according to SF Gate. That’s due to the position of the sun, which must be higher than 58 degrees.

California is a good place to see a fire rainbow, according to Atmospheric Optics.

And lest we forget, this kind of optical illusion isn’t unknown to those who frequent California’s national parks. Horsetail Fall in Yosemite has become a destination in recent years.

This story was originally published April 25, 2018 at 11:59 AM with the headline "It’s just sunlight refracted by ice crystals, but this ‘fire rainbow’ is awesome.."