I First Became Aware,

of the Horsetail Falls,

'fire waterfall', when I watched The Cain Mutiny, so many years ago, but unlike the film the photograph above was taken by Ken Xu/Flickr is of the real event, not a shower of sparks as was used in the film, every year, from December to April, water from melting mountain snow flows toward the eastern edge of El Capitan, forming the temporary Horsetail Falls, it is best viewed for a few days (7 -10) in February, when, under the right conditions, it turns into a firefall, with the water looking like flowing lava and swirling flames, sadly, many of the people who travel to Yosemite to witness the firefall firsthand don’t know that it doesn’t appear every year, for the Yosemite Firefall to be visible, certain conditions have to be met all at once, which do not happen every year,

the natural show must be truly spectacular as the above video shows, 

and for a longer explanation the above video does a good job, but what conditions need to be in place for the show? well, there must be snow in Yosemite, and the temperature must be high enough to make the snow melt and create the waterfall. For example, when California experiences drought, the waterfalls don’t flow, so Horsetail Falls can’t turn into a firefall, but those aren’t the only conditions that have to be met. The sky has to be almost perfectly clear, as even the slightest haze can hinder the phenomenon, and the sun has to hit the falls from just the right angle to “set the waterfall ablaze”, it many not happen every year, but when it does, what a show!