9/9/2023 0 Comments Kentucky waterfall moonbowThe falls on the Cumberland River are 125 feet wide, and the drop is 68 feet into a boulder-strewn gorge. That's why they tend to appear whitish, although the color is more visible in long-exposure photographs.Įven without moonbows, Cumberland Falls is impressive, billed as the Niagara of the South. It is difficult to perceive colors because the light is usually too faint to trigger the cone color receptors in the human eye. Some describe moonbows as electric-looking white light with bands of blue and red. When they appear, they are generally visible for a couple of hours, said park naturalist Steve Gilbert. The moonbows tend to be faint, because of the smaller amount of light from the moon. The intensity of the moonbows changes by the second, depending on the ups and downs of the mist. It occurs 30 minutes later on subsequent nights because the moon rises later. It is visible because the viewer is standing between the moonlight and the falls.Īt Cumberland Falls, that generally happens about 1 hour after dark, 2 nights before the full moon, when the east-rising moon clears surrounding ridges and hits the right angle above the north-facing falls. The lunar light must hit the falls at a 42-degree angle and be reflected back through the mist. The factors needed for moonbows are intense falling water, the volume of mist, the waterfall's placement and dark skies. The park gets big crowds on moonbow nights, with the lodge and the campground both booked solid. They may also appear, if conditions are right, on the 2 nights before the full moon and the 2 nights after the full moon. Moonbows are possible on clear evenings with full moons. If you want to attempt to see Kentucky's moonbows, the upcoming full moons are Aug. Moonbows were reportedly special to the Shawnees and Cherokees, and they recognized Cumberland Falls as a sacred place. Moonbows may sound strange, but they occur regularly at only two places: at Kentucky's Cumberland Falls State Resort Park, and at Victoria Falls on the Zambezi River in Africa. That is the term given to the unusual lunar rainbows that appear at night in the mist at the bottom of Cumberland Falls. – Moonbows are a big attraction in south-central Kentucky.
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