A rainbow that appears during a snow event is known colloquially as a SnowBow.
On the flank of Grandfather Mountain in an unusual April snow a week ago, an equally unusual SnowBow appeared from my perch on the Blue Ridge Parkway. While photos can capture it, a SnowBow video shows the snow seemingly falling through the colors.
Meteorologists maintain that a SnowBow is a rare phenomenon because the temperature must be just right to allow the snow to mix with raindrops. Snowflakes are unable to produce rainbows themselves due to their crystal formation, each flake being unique. However, as raindrops are not structurally unique, they are conduits for rainbows. The mixture of rain with snow produces the extremely uncommon atmospheric event, at times with hail present to give an uncommon glow.
Was there a pot of gold at the end of this SnowBow? Probably not, but the moments of viewing the scene were indeed golden for the Honey Badger.
Thomas Mabry – Honey Badger Images
Many of the HoneyBadgerImages are on display at Instagram.com/honeybadgerimages
