PHOTOS: 'Rainbow Cloud' Phenomenon Captivates Northeast Ohioans
By Kelly Fisher
May 20, 2021
“Rainbow clouds” cast across the sky captivated Northeast Ohioans.
All over the region, people snapped Instagram-worthy photos of the colorful phenomenon that happened Wednesday afternoon (May 19).
The “rainbow clouds” are actually iridescent clouds typically dubbed “fire rainbows” or “circumhorizontal arcs,” News 5 Cleveland reports. The rainbow pattern happens when sunlight diffracts from ice crystals in the clouds, usually when the weather is hot and humid.
Ohioans shared their unique photos with News 5 Cleveland, Fox 8 and other local news outlets.
The National Weather Service explains the color of clouds:
“The color of a cloud depends primarily upon the color of the light it receives. The Earth's natural source of light is the sun which provides 'white' light. White light combines all of the colors in the 'visible spectrum', which is the range of colors we can see.”
"Each color in the visible spectrum represents electromagnetic waves of differing lengths. The colors change as the wavelength increases from violet to indigo to blue, green, yellow, orange, red and deep red."
It continues:
“Rainbows are partly the result of sunlight refraction through a rain drop, which acts like a prism.”
Read more about the color of clouds here.
Photo: Getty Images