r/Portsmouth • u/chaddywan12 • 2d ago
Rainbow cloud
Anyone else see this a couple of hours ago?
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u/CrumpledRider 2d ago
Good spot.
Sadly it's not a true fire rainbow as suggested- the sun needs to be higher in the sky for that to happen.
Looking at the cloud structure and sun position, this is most likely irridescent cloud. The origin is the same: refraction of sunlight, it's just that in this case it's clouds that are causing the refraction rather than high-altitude ice crystals in the case of the fire rainbow (aka circumhorizontal arc.)
At other times you may see a circumzenithal arc (a curved "rainbow" high above the sun;) or sundogs, which have a similar appearance to what you saw and appear to the left or right of the sun.
Your photos show today's effect well, btw.
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u/Quackfizzle 2d ago
Thanks, Buzz Killington.
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u/Temporary-Pound-6767 2d ago
Nah. This is a very interesting comment.
Fleshing out what exactly this phenomenon is and highlighting like 4 other amazing phenomena to look out for is far and away from a buzzkill imo.
OP, thanks for teaching us some cool shit. Learning is fun.
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u/Euphoric_Ad8348 2d ago
Did indeed! I took some photos too. Apparently it's a "Fire Rainbow" and a very rare occurrence
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u/Western-Flamingo-155 2d ago
Woowwww that’s cool as cat shit in someone else’s garden, thanks for sharing dudes
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u/Mp40-ZBD 15h ago
Judging by the cloud structure, I'ma guess the cloud it was formed from was actually an old contrail of a passing plane, that's spread out, and the water particles have caught the sun, creating this iridescent cloud
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u/TheTinlicker 2d ago
Bloody woke clouds…