Vertical Rainbow Columns Beneath a Storm Cloud
Vertical Rainbow Columns Beneath a Storm CloudThis rare display isn’t a typical rainbow.
The vertical bands of color are caused by sunlight refracting and reflecting through uniformly shaped ice crystals falling from a high-altitude storm cloud. As the light passes through these crystals, it separates into its component wavelengths, creating pillar-like spectral streaks rather than a curved arc.
The effect requires:
A low Sun angle
Ice crystals aligned vertically
A dense storm cloud acting as a light filter
Under the right atmospheric conditions, gravity and crystal orientation stretch the rainbow into vertical light columns, producing one of the rarest optical phenomena seen in the sky.

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