Cumberland Falls' Moonbow | Kentucky Life | KET

The romance of the waterfall at Cumberland Falls State Park is enhanced on the occasional moonlit night by a moonbow. The spectacular sight of the moonbow attracts people from all over the world.
What exactly creates the moonbow? The light from the moon is shining through the water droplets in the mist at the bottom of the falls, creating the delicate arc of light. To the human eye it often looks like a faint white arc, but in long-exposure photographs, the seven colors of the rainbow are visible.
The naturalist John Muir wrote about the Yosemite National Park moonbows, which he called spray bows. Moonbows are also visible in Victoria Falls in Zambia.
Geography note: Cumberland Falls State Park is split between Whitley and McCreary counties. Everyone watching the moonbow is standing in Whitley County; the moonbow and the falls themselves are in McCreary County.