THE DAY THE SKY MULTIPLIED ITS COLORS

 THE DAY THE SKY MULTIPLIED ITS COLORS 

Drivers heading home through the valley thought at first it was just a bright rainbow after the passing rain. Then someone pulled over. Then another. Because the sky wasn’t holding one arc — it was holding several, stacked side by side like light beams poured from the clouds.

As sunlight hit layers of lingering mist drifting through the mountain air, the droplets split the light again and again, creating a rare multi-band rainbow formation. The colors looked almost solid, like glowing ribbons stretched from the storm clouds down to the town below.

Power lines, rooftops, and pine trees fell into shadow while the sky above filled with shifting color. Witnesses said the rain had already stopped, the air felt unusually still, and for a few minutes the entire valley lay quiet beneath a wide band of color overhead.

 Missoula Valley, Western Montana