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Old man winter’s version of a rainbow might be in the form of an icebow. This beautiful white band across the sky is actually an optical phenomenon which is produced by light interacting with suspended ice crystals in the atmosphere. It's caused by the same process that creates a sun halo, by light refracting, reflecting and dispersing through ice particles in cirrus clouds located very high in the atmosphere.

Icebows form in extremely cold temperatures. Just last week, this photo of a beautiful icebow was posted on X from the Uinta Mountains in Utah. There are many versions of these beautiful phenomena: halos, fogbows, sundogs and sun pillars.

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According to NOAA, in the atmosphere, under certain conditions, water drops and ice crystals can act as a prism, allowing us to see the various colors that make up visible light. It's because of these properties that allows us to see these incredible atmospheric optical effects, such as an icebow.

J​ennifer Gray is a weather and climate writer for weather.com. She has been covering some of the world's biggest weather and climate stories for the last two decades.