Ethereal Visitor to Astoria: What Is A Fogbow, and How to Find it on Oregon / Washington Coast

Published 01/11/26 at 6:55 p.m.
By Oregon Coast Beach Connection Staff

(Astoria, Oregon) – An ethereal visitor popped into north Oregon coast waters this last week. Angi Wildt of Angi D Wildt Gallery in Astoria noticed it while just taking simple snapshots and video of the Columbia River. Photos / video Angi Wildt

At one point, a fogbow showed up. Not a rainbow – but a fogbow. It's the whitish, hazy cousin of a rainbow.

Sometimes there are hints of full rainbow colors; sometimes there's more than a few hints. But mostly it's a white arc that happens under similar conditions as you'd get a rainbow. Also, it's not something you see often on the Oregon coast or Washington coast, but it happens in a marine environment more frequently than on land. Take the full tour of Astoria.

So what is a fogbow?

Brian Nieuwenhuis, a senior meteorologist with the National Weather Service (NWS) in Medford, said it's similar to a rainbow.

“A fogbow is essentially the same thing as a rainbow, just with tiny fog droplets instead of rain drops,” Nieuwenhuis. “Because the fog droplets are so much smaller, they don't bend the light as much as the raindrops do, and so the colors in the fogbow tend to be very pale, or even just appear white.”

These droplets are incredibly small: like the width of a human hair. Otherwise, the physics are exactly the same as the rainbow: sunlight bounces, bends (refracts) and spreads outward.

The colors overlap and blend, which gives it a milky, whitish look. When you have different colors pile on top of each other it creates white. Black is the absence of colors, while white is the result of all the colors coming together.

So how do you seek out a fogbow on the Oregon coast (or Washington coast)?

That's a bit more difficult.

Nieuwenhuis said it's going to depend on conditions.

“The best way to see a fogbow would be to have the sun low at your back, like around sunrise, with the fog bank in front of you,” he told Oregon Coast Beach Connection. “So along our coast, standing on the beach/cape/headland at sunrise with a fog bank just offshore would seem to be the best chance to see one. “

It seems mariners have much better luck catching this, according to National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), which actually oversees NWS. When you're out at sea, those conditions happen more often.

Image courtesy of NOAA Ocean Exploration, Voyage to the Ridge 2022

Other things in similar veins are a moonbow (which is much rarer), and a sun halo or moon halo.

Also see: Moon Halo or Lunar Corona: What You're Seeing on Washington Coast / Oregon Coast Both are the product of refraction and are lovely

Difference Between Sun Dogs and Sun Halos: Lovely Oregon Coast Science

In Widlt's video and photos, you see the fogbow in a brighter, more prominent state than you usually see them. Then it starts to fade. Indeed, one of the ships out there seems to slip inside it and disappear as well – as if the fogbow was some sort of magic portal.

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