Rare 'rainbow cloud' captured by tourist in Jamaica

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Andrew Feinberg

White House Correspondent

A rare rainbow cloud formation captured in a photo taken in Jamaica has been explained as a case of “cloud iridescence” by meteorologists.

Tourist Beckie Bone Dunning, from Missouri, saw the phenomenon while visiting Ocho Rios in October.

The 62-year-old told The Independent she had been sitting by her hotel's pool between 3pm and 4pm on 29 October at the time. "The dark clouds were approaching... and heading to the sunshine... I looked up and saw this.

"[I] always have my camera with me on vacation and quickly took these pictures... by then the entire resort was looking.

"It was an awesome experience to be able to see that."

Fascinated by what she saw, Ms Dunning uploaded the image to Facebook and sought an explanation from The Weather Channel.

The channel's senior meteorologist, Nick Wiltgen, responded by saying: “In clouds, iridescence is a by-product of sunlight being diffracted by water droplets or ice crystals, causing the various wavelengths of light – which we see as colours – to emerge at different angles.

“As they reach the observer’s eye, the observer perceives a pattern of various colours as those different wavelengths reach his or her eye from distinct directions, rather than being jumbled together and appearing whitish.”

Kirsty McCabe, a senior meteorologist for The Weather Channel UK, said the colours of "cloud iridescence" were "similar to those found in oil films on puddles".

"So rather than the traditional rainbow colours you get lots of pinks and greens and often in pastel shades. The colours usually appear as bands nearly parallel to the cloud edges or as a mosaic pattern."