Very rare evening high altitude rainbow cloud

[LumenHound]

Did any CPFers in Idaho or Washington state see this unusual sight while they were outside in the evening of June 3rd? Someone out and about with a flashlight must have looked up.

I've been lucky enough to see high altitude noctilucent clouds just past dusk about 20 years ago but never this kind of strange and unusual very impressive display.

National Geographic photo: Idaho rainbow cloud

 

[PhotonWrangler]

Wow, that was gorgeous! Thanks for sharing the link.

 

[Empath]

I've seen it once, and that's all. It's an experience that stops traffic on the freeway.

Several years ago, while my father was still living, he came to visit for a few days. When it was time for him to go, I drove him to the Portland airport. On the way back, my wife and I noticed a lot of cars pulled off the freeway with the people outside their cars and staring up in the sky. I had to find out what was going on. Practically straight up was a cloud that looked like it was on fire, with multicolored flames. At the time I didn't know what it was, and it took some time to find out. It's definitely a beautiful sight, and well worth experiencing.

I was glad my wife was with me. It's something best shared.

 

[watt4]

the local paper had that picture last month. neat!

 

[greenLED]

Very cool. I saw one with my dad once. We were in Ecuador, and I noticed this "squiggly rainbow" up in the sky. I've never seen anything like that again. (I did see *the* green ray as the sun sets into the ocean...). Ah, nature's "little" wonders...

 

[LumenHound]

Ecuador. Now that's cool. Thanks Green guy. When I saw the noctilescent clouds I was visiting my sister in Barbados. Check out the beach her and the hubby get to enjoy on a daily basis. during the day it's practically deserted.
Mullins Beach

 

[dim]

My experience with "rainbows in the sky" is somewhat different -

Usually, we think of rainbows arcing across the sky from one "pot 'o gold" to another. The fact is that rainbows are really round, a full circle. The only reason that we don't see them that way is because the ground is in the way either obscuring our view or blocking the completion of a rainbow.

As I was on a plane going from here to there, passing through a patch of, presumably, cumulus clouds, I saw a very distinctive, well defined, full circle of a vivid rainbow. It stayed in view for about 30 seconds, maybe more, as the fairly tight circle of the smallish rainbow, seemingly, a few hundred feet away, began to fade as the sun and my view of the rainbow became partially blocked by the clouds until the plane passed from view of the rainbow.

Mother (nature) puts on the best light shows. And always at the best times.....By surprise!

73
dim

 

[Kiessling]

Thanx for sharing that !!!!
Beautiful. Never even heard of it.

 

[sunspot]

I took this picture over my house last year. Does this rainbow type have a name?

 

[greenLED]

Barbados... (dreams of tropical paradise)...

sunspot, I think that's cloud iridescence

I have a pic of a double rainbow somewhere.

 

[LumenHound]

I took this picture over my house last year. Does this rainbow type have a name?

The effect is known as iridescence.
Iridescence example

The Idaho cloud is an example of a circumhorizon arc. Banded iridescence can also look surprisingly similar.
Example of banded iridescence over California.
Example of circumhorizon arc over Fredericton, New Brunswick

Here's another picture of the June 3rd circumhorizon arc as viewed from Spokane, Washington.