Rainbow Brite!

Yesterday around 6 PM, after yet another rainstorm, I was leaving work and happened to notice that 1) it was dark and drizzly to the east, and 2) the sun was shining low in the west. I said to myself, "there's gotta be a rainbow out someplace!" I looked opposite the sun, just had a feeling that kept me watching the sky, and sure enough I got to see a rainbow form. It started low and faint off to my left, then gradually arched across the sky until it touched down at the other end. I took a couple of pictures (see panorama above). It was a nice bow, the usual kind, just neat to watch it happen. Then I left to go home, driving with one eye on the bow to see if it got any brighter.

And boy did it ever! I went around the curve just past my workplace and the whole road lit up in a myriad of colors. The rainbow ended on the road in front of me! It was reflecting in the wet spots and there, by the stop sign, was the brightest end-of-a-rainbow I've ever seen. Being me, and obsessed with such things, I pulled over, took a few more pictures, and then just watched the show. Enthralling! God painted a pretty picture for me yesterday!

I finally had to leave. The bow seemed to be fading and moving as the sun shifted through the clouds, but I drove through the end of it then watched it the rest of the way home as it jumped from hilltop to field. Longest-lasting series of bows I've witnessed; it was interesting to say the least. My little digital camera doesn't do justice to the intensity of the rainbow. Nor did I get any really up-close shots, since I was craning my neck upwards out of my car window at that time.


In this shot, taken farther away, you can see the beginnings of the secondary bow above the first one. (Factoid: the colors of a secondary bow are always in reverse order of the primary one.) Also, barely visible in both photos (but much more pronounced when I saw it "live") are supernumeraries, extra bands of colors below the violet band of the primary bow. They're green, blue, and magenta, thinner than the main color bands, and there is no scientific explanation for why they occur. An enigma, or God's reminder that we really can't know everything? (See also: platypus)

More about rainbows: click here!