Rainbow Cloud

reply to post by FireballStorm


actually the sun was to the LEFT in the photo, and appeared more of a rod than an arc, but in the enhanced photo you can see that it appears that it might have had a bit of an arc to it. The brighter section is actually the cloud (which may be what you seem to be interpreting as the sun).

What I found odd about it is that I have never seen something like this in the 40+ years that I have lived here. I've seen moon halos but never something like this. Not only that but as I said, I live in the Northeast United States. That particular day it was really hot (high 80's low 90's), and the clouds were really low in the atmosphere, so I am not really sure that this is conducive to ice crystal formation, but I could be wrong on that.

My interest in the sky has increased in the last year or so, and I've mostly been a night time sky person, and it may just be that I've just missed it before.

Getting a better camera? Well, my fiance is a professional photographer and that's his thing not necessarily mine so I don't see that happening.


I did snap some other shots, and I'm going to check with the member that did the enhancement to see if they would enhance the others so that we might get a better "look" at what is going on.

Its funny, I don't know if this is the same thing or not, but a couple of weeks ago, I saw a "rainbow" in the distance.
Only it was about 6 times as wide as a regular rainbow (full visibility that day) and was only about a thumbs width high.
I had never seen anything like it before. Probably just a regular rainbow, but your pic reminded me of it.

reply to post by ThreeSistersofLoveandLigh


I think you may have missed that the post I was replying to was lewtra's post - in his photo, the sun looks like it's on the right.

In rely to your post - as I think I said before, once you start to notice them and know how/where/when to look for them, they are common, but none the less fascinating and beautiful!

Look out and you will start to see the less common halos/arcs too. I've been observing/photographing them for over 5 years now, and still have lots to learn about the less common halos/arcs. The links I posted above are a great resource for info on all the different kinds, and there are quite a few..

I would say, regarding cameras - if your fiance won't at least give you one of his backups, get one yourself - I'd be more than happy to advise....

I would have liked to go into a bit more detail, but I've got to be on the road in a few hrs, and I still haven't got any sleep!

Hoe you keep up your interest in the sky - there is lots to look out for that is interesting up there

reply to post by FireballStorm


Thanks for all info and links, I'll have a look through them tonight.. It's funny that all those years looking to the skies I have only seen two of these 'rainbow clouds', I did get a pic of the last one but accidentaly formatted my memory card...

Have a good trip mate and thanks..

reply to post by lewtra


Cheers lewtra. Had quite a good trip

It's really not that odd - until you know where/when to look they are easily missed. As soon as you notice thin/hazy/cirrus type clouds in the sky, keep checking for halos. More often than not they are faint, and don't last long, so you need to be on the ball if you want to catch them on a regular basis.

Noticed a similar thing yesterday here in The UK as shown in my video above, I think it's more a rainbow above the cloud rather than a cloud rainbow. The strange thing is there was no rain all day but this rainbow was hovering above the clouds. I just put it down to the sun reflecting on the water in the clouds.

a reply to: ThreeSistersofLoveandLigh

I saw a rainbow cloud in Napa California about 3 months ago. My first thought was earthquake because I remember people saying they saw rainbow like lights in the sky after the large quake in Chile. While we didn't have a quake 3 months ago, there was a big one yesterday morning at 3:20am that was shaking violently. The time frame seems a little long and was probably just a natural phenomenon. Thought I had a picture of it, may have deleted it because I can't find it. If I so find it I'll post it.

Hopefully this doesn't mean you'll have earthquakes where you're at.

a reply to: ThreeSistersofLoveandLigh

A while back I had a most remarkable, breathtaking experience. If it had not happened to me I would not have known it wad even possible.

I drove into a rainbow! I saw the rainbow ahead of me and really didn't give it any thought. I was on a bridge an one minute everything was normal, the next I was surrounded by all the colors of the rainbow!

It was amazingly beautiful, breathtaking and probably a once in a lifetime experience.