A horizontal rainbow pictured above the Paris skyline (Photo: Bertrand Kulik)

A horizontal "fire rainbow", rarely seen in Europe but common in the United States appeared about Paris, next to the breathtaking Eifel Tower, on St. Patrick's Day.

Local Bertrand Kulik (33) snapped the unusual display out of his apartment window on March 17th, sadly no leprechauns made an appearance.

Kulik told the Daily Mail "I have never seen a rainbow like that before. This light phenomenon looked like a rising aurora over Paris.

"When I saw it, I had to react very fast. I was very impressed by this beauty and I knew that I could not miss it."

The unusual rainbow was brought on by heavy rainstorms and stormy weather that lashed Paris last week. Fire rainbows, or circumhorizon arcs, occur when cirrus clouds are far enough up in the air to form plate-shaped ice crystals.