Rare 'Firefall' Glows in Yosemite National Park

[mahatmakanejeeves]

A natural phenomenon in Yosemite National Park draws thousands of visitors each February. See the rare "Firefall" in photos.

wsj.com
Rare ‘Firefall’ Glows in Yosemite National Park
A natural phenomenon in Yosemite National Park draws thousands of visitors each February. See the rare "Firefall" in photos

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[SpamWyzer]

1. A "rare"

event that happens annually. (?)

[Hugh_Lebowski]

4. The skies that day must be clear and the falls must be flowing (recently been a prob til this year)

You have to be standing at just the right spot, and it lasts about 10 minutes/day for about a week each year if the conditions needed exist. You also have to walk 1.5 miles to get to the viewing area. Normally 3 miles total not a huge deal for most, but if you're not acclimated to 5K feet elevation, you get more tired than you'd guess.

And the best viewing days require reservations just to drive into the park (not normally required).

So yeah, pretty rare for someone to get to see it, even if not, strictly speaking, a rare occurrence.

[SheltieLover]

2. Thx, Jeeves!

I'd never heard of this rare event. Off to research.

[BumRushDaShow]

3. It's like the "Manhattanhedge" due to the change of the sun's position (parallax) as seen from Earth

where in NYC, the sun will appear aligned just the right way along E/W streets during certain times of the year.



For this firefalls event, similarly during a certain time range of the year, the sun angle will appear to produce the effect (as back-lighting). The corresponding period in fall wouldn't produce the effect (as a back-light) as the sun would be shining from the front at that point.

[Grumpy Old Guy]

5. A friend of mine was there this past week.

She got a good shot of it, but had to leave Yosemite a day early due to the weather.