YOSEMITE NATIONAL PARK, California – A spectacular “firefall” wowed visitors in California’s Yosemite National Park on Wednesday, with the setting sun lighting up a waterfall like a ribbon of fire.

For just a couple of weeks every year, the last rays of daylight hit Horsetail Fall, appearing to set the water alight like a river of lava gushing down a mountainside.

The phenomenon, which lasts just a few minutes at sundown and which draws tourists from across the United States, relies on a rare combination of perfect conditions.

“When the sun drops at the exact right angle, it reflects upon El Capitan,” Yosemite National Park public affairs officer Scott Gediman said.

“It’s a combination of the sun reflecting on the water, clear skies, water flowing. If all of that comes together, it’s magical,” he said.

California, along with much of the western United States, is in the grip of a years-long drought that has badly depleted its rivers.

But heavy downpours that started in 2023 – causing deadly flooding in some places – have left the state in much better shape, and watercourses are flowing.

California’s signature blue skies put in an appearance on Wednesday, meaning visitors to Yosemite – who were in exactly the right place at exactly the right time – got their chance to see the “firefall”.

“The pictures I’ve seen are just gorgeous,” said amateur photographer Terry Cantrell, who travelled from Fresno. “Everybody wants to have their own, so this is what I’m trying to do.”

For Ms Whitney Clark from San Francisco, the long wait and the freezing temperatures were all worth it.

“Based on how the sun sets up against the mountain or the rock, it creates a really good fire effect for photographers and you can get a beautiful picture of it,” she said. AFP