Stunning ‘Firefall’ Returns To Yosemite National Park

Flickr/evelynquek/CC BY

Every year, for roughly 10 days in February, a phenomenon known as Yosemite National Park’s firefall makes it look as though one of the falls in the park is flowing with hot lava.

A post shared by Omar Hernández? (@omarrrpp) on Feb 16, 2017 at 11:44am PST

In reality, the winter wonder is an optical illusion that happens when the setting sun hits Horsetail Fall, which flows in the winter and early spring, at just the right angle. This year, the annual firefall is expected to last until February 23, during which the fall looks as though molten lava is pouring down the side of a snowy cliff. Check out photos of the beautiful firefall below:

Since it only happens once a year, here’s another photo of Fire Fall at Horsetail Fall in Yosemite. ?: @axleethington #firefall #yosemite #horsetailfall #northerncalifornia #lightmagic

A post shared by SFGATE (@sfgate) on Feb 15, 2017 at 11:03am PST

A post shared by ABC7 Southern California (@abc7la) on Feb 15, 2017 at 9:59pm PST

A post shared by Erika 🙂 (@erikawithasmile) on Sep 11, 2016 at 1:17pm PDT