When it rose over Lake Superior, however, it looked more like molten lava. Thomas Spence of Tofte, MN, photographed the moonrise:

“There was great atmospheric distortion,” says Spence. “Ice piles and open water added to the fantastic scene.”

This is an ‘inferior mirage’, caused by a layer of relatively warm air just above the lake’s surface. A temperature gradient in the air–warmer near the open water and cooler above–created an upside-down image of the Moon below the actual Moon. The two images, reddened by the filtering effect of the low atmosphere, merged into a molten shape.

The mirage is also known as an ‘Etruscan vase mirage,’ so-called by Jules Verne, and an ‘omega mirage’ after its resemblance to the last letter of the Greek alphabet.

Source: Spaceweather.com