Yosemite Falls Turns Into a Giant Rainbow

Because of high winds, the entire 1,450-feet waterfall turned into a dazzling rainbow by the morning sun.

Sunlight falling on Yosemite Falls turns it into a cascading rainbow

(Photo: AP Screengrab)

California’s Yosemite Falls experienced an extremely rare phenomena with the entire waterfall briefly turning into a cascading rainbow. It happened when the first rays of the sun fell on the water and bounced back with the same effect as that of a prism, emitting all seven colours of the rainbow.

Photographer Greg Harlow was waiting at Glacier Point in Yosemite National Park for the famous sunrise over the Sierra Nevada Mountains when he spotted the spray initially turning red.

He had just enough time to pull his camera equipment from his bag and was one of few people to witness the beautiful sight.

“I was at Glacier Point in Yosemite National Park with my buddy Julian. We brought our coffee maker to the location, and hung out for an hour or so when we saw colours starting to appear on Yosemite Falls. First it was red, then it worked its way across the spectrum to a full rainbow. We were two of only about ten people to witness this. The spot was empty because it was so windy that morning. We lost it when we saw what was happening. It was beautiful,” he said.

The main factor at play here, Greg claimed, were the extremely high winds, which are uncommon in the Yosemite Valley. This allowed the full spectrum to span the entire 1,450-feet waterfall.

‘Magical’ certainly is the right word. You can see the waterfall off the cliff and get immediately sprayed into mist by the high winds. I travel and take images of natural beauty year round and this goes down as the most jaw dropping moment of my career so far.

Greg Harlow, Photographer

Harlow claimed that rare high winds whipping up the rainbow waterfall made it look like someone was spraying the colours from top of the mountains.

Video Editor: Mohd Ibrahim

(With inputs from AP)