2507_2117 Fogbow
Yesterday's shot showed some heavy ground fog over a ditch and field. Just beyond that point the road makes a 90* left, and within a mile the fog thinned dramatically (I was farther from the river and the sun was rising to spread its warmth). And then I saw this fogbow.
It was only the 4th fogbow I've photographed. They are much rarer than rainbows. Sometimes called white rainbows or ghost rainbows because their colour is very subtle or absent altogether, fogbows are fairly rare. The water droplets in fog are incredibly tiny, therefore they interact with light via diffraction, and very little colour is refracted (as in a rainbow, where the droplets are much larger).
Most fogbows exist only briefly, but this one was visible in the morning sky for more than an hour. I will post one more shot of it later today - a rare double posting for me, but I did miss a day last week - and then move on to different weather phenomena as the week goes on. Summer is the time for dramatic weather on the northern prairie...
Photographed on the outskirts of Val Marie, Saskatchewan (Canada). Don't use this image on websites, blogs, or other media without explicit permission ©2025 James R. Page - all rights reserved.
2507_2117 Fogbow
Yesterday's shot showed some heavy ground fog over a ditch and field. Just beyond that point the road makes a 90* left, and within a mile the fog thinned dramatically (I was farther from the river and the sun was rising to spread its warmth). And then I saw this fogbow.
It was only the 4th fogbow I've photographed. They are much rarer than rainbows. Sometimes called white rainbows or ghost rainbows because their colour is very subtle or absent altogether, fogbows are fairly rare. The water droplets in fog are incredibly tiny, therefore they interact with light via diffraction, and very little colour is refracted (as in a rainbow, where the droplets are much larger).
Most fogbows exist only briefly, but this one was visible in the morning sky for more than an hour. I will post one more shot of it later today - a rare double posting for me, but I did miss a day last week - and then move on to different weather phenomena as the week goes on. Summer is the time for dramatic weather on the northern prairie...
Photographed on the outskirts of Val Marie, Saskatchewan (Canada). Don't use this image on websites, blogs, or other media without explicit permission ©2025 James R. Page - all rights reserved.