Weather Tidbits: Rainbows

This edition of Weather Tidbits will discuss rainbows. Rainbows are created by the refraction of sunlight of many different wavelengths off of raindrops. The variation of wavelengths results in the multitude of colors seen in a rainbow based on the color spectrum. There are two main ingredients needed for a rainbow. You need both rain and exposed sunlight. To see the rainbow, the viewer must be between the rain and the sun. The time must also be a few hours before sunrise or sunset because the sun needs to be at a low enough angle along the horizon. When these key steps are down, the rainbow will appear at the opposite point of the sun!

The vibrancy of the rainbow will be determined by the size of the raindrops and how much rain is falling. Larger raindrops often create brighter bands within the rainbow. Smaller raindrops will not create as vibrant of a display.