By ,
Published August 17, 2017
A tourist was amazed when she looked up and saw an incredible rainbow in the clouds while holidaying in Ocho Rios, Jamaica.
Beckie Bone Dunning posted a photo of the phenomenon onto The Weather Channel’s Facebook page writing “I was in ocho rios Jamaica last week, storn [sic] clouds were approaching.. didn’t quite cover the sun yet.. I looked up and saw this.. never seen it before in my life. can u explain it?”
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Her post led to other users sharing photos of similar rainbows.
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According to weather.com senior meteorologist Nick Wiltgen, the phenomenon is known as cloud iridescence.
“In clouds, iridescence is a byproduct of sunlight being diffracted by water droplets or ice crystals, causing the various wavelengths of light – which we see as colours – to emerge at different angles,” says Wiltgen.
“As they reach the observer’s eye, the observer perceives a pattern of various colours as those different wavelengths reach his or her eye from distinct directions, rather than being jumbled together and appearing whitish.”
https://www.foxnews.com/travel/tourist-captures-incredible-rainbow-cloud-while-on-vacation-in-jamaica