Bay Area Rainbow Sightings As Sun Rises Over Fizzled Storm Clouds
KPIX 5 Morning Weather Anchor Roberta Gonzales answers the questions you never get to ask on-air.
Q: Hey Roberta! I thought the attached might be of interest for today's weather report. A double rainbow this morning at Sonoma Raceway at approximately 7:45 a.m. Enjoy!
- Jennifer Imbimbo; Sonoma Speedway
A: So cool! Thank you for thinking of me and sending this gorgeous photo!
What makes a rainbow? Rainbows are rays of color. Sunlight looks white, but it's really made up of different colors. The sun makes rainbows as white sunlight passes through rain drops. The raindrops perform like tiny prisms. They bend the different colors in white light, so the light spreads out into a band of colors, reflected back to you as a rainbow.
The picture from Sonoma Raceway features a double rainbow. The inner and brighter rainbow has the red on the top and the blue on the bottom side. The outer and dimmer rainbow has the color scheme reversed.
According to NOAA, a second rainbow appears if the sunlight is reflected twice inside the water droplets.
Take a look at another rainbow picture sent to me from @143care bear, it's beautiful! A lovely rainbow arching high over San Francisco City Hall!
Where do you look for a rainbow? Three conditions must be met in order for you to see a rainbow. First, it must be raining. Second, the sun must be shining. Third, the observer must be between the sun and the rain. The lower the sun is in the sky, the higher the arc of the rainbow.
KPIX WeatherCenter: Current Conditions and Forecast
This morning, as the storm system was passing, the clouds parted and allowed sunshine to filter in. Some of those clouds still had raindrops and that's why we saw so many "high arced rainbows" this morning as the sun was rising!
And how do you remember the colors in a rainbow? All you need to remember is this: ROY G BIV (or ROYGBIV). These letters stand for the order of the colors of the rainbow, which are: Red, Orange, Yellow, Green, Blue, Indigo, and Violet!
Did you capture any rainbow images today? Share them at our KPIX Facebook Page.
