Tuesday, October 9

Fogbow: The Mysterious White Rainbow


Until today I had never heard of a fogbow - but I'll look anywhere for that illusive pot of gold!


A fogbow or fog bow or white rainbow or cloudbow is similar to a rainbow but appears in fog or mist rather than in rain showers.

Rainbows are formed when sunlight hits large water droplets, displaying a spectrum of colour. However, in a fogbow, the water droplets in the mist are too small to refract and reflect light, meaning the arc appears to be whitish in colour. Well that's what I'm told.


The photo above was taken from the Golden Gate Bridge, San Francisco.

Maybe fogbows are common in your country but, as I said earlier, I have never heard of them before today and have definitely never seen any in England. It's good to hear about something 'new'.


Photo credits: Top two by BrokenInaGlory and bottom two are in the Public Domain.

Rainbow Posts:
The Double Rainbow Falls Into Place Perfectly
Black Elk On Peace And At The Door Of Death
It's Going To Be A Special Day

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7 comments:

  1. Here in Cumbria, we've had a fogbow although I've never actually seen one but, what a coincidence Mike, you post this today and I read this yesterday in the Daily Mail http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2214127/I-fogbow-Rare-phenomenon-seen-Cumbrian-sky-autumn-arrives-glory.html

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    1. Fantastic photos on that link to the Daily Mail - thanks!

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  2. i've seen these guys before, but didn't know them to be fogbows... now i know, thank you.

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    1. I'd never even heard the word until the day I wrote the post.

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  3. I've not heard or seen of them before either Mike.
    But when I went to Wikipedia to see what a fogbow was

    http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fog_bow

    I came across a variety of phenomena I knew little about,such as -
    Moonbows
    Circumhorizontal arcs
    Circumzenithal arcs
    Halos
    Sun dogs

    All of them rather interesting,but made me realize what a sheltered life I lead,because I haven't seen a single one of them in real life.

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    1. I think I must have been in a similar shelter! There are great pics on the link Chris gives above.

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  4. I've never heard of them, either!

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