‘Upside down rainbow’ caused by freak weather

Published on Wed, Sep 17, 2008 by

Post filled in: Climate, Feature Post, Great Pics

inverted rainbowEvery once in a while we get a sign that the weather around the planet is changing, and not for the good. This kind of rainbow needs very specific conditions to form, similar to those in the North Pole, and it appeared above Britain.

Rainbows are formed in a very simple way (details), when light goes through a raindrop for example and goes out the other side, but this other kind of rainbow requires something else to form; it forms when sunlight bounces off ice crystals high in the atmosphere, which sends the sun rays back up.

This smiley face in the sky is something few people have ever seen, and even in remote and wild places, let alone in the heart of European civilisation. The picture was captured by astronomer Dr Jacqueline Mitton from her house near Cambridge. Here is what she had to say.

“I’ve never seen anything like it before – and I’m 60. The conditions have to be just right: you need the right sort of ice crystals and the sky has to be clear. We’re not sure how big an area it was visible over, but it was certainly very impressive.”

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Andrei is no scientist, but from an early age, he has been fascinated by science; that's why he went to college, and signed up for Geophysics. Feeling that there's a huge gap between science and average people, he rallied TP, started ZME Science, and gave it a green twist too.

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  • John

    You’re an idiot. These are somewhat rare, but there’s nothing wrong with them. Full circle rainbows occur around the sun, in the stratosphere, and in many other locations.

    It’s not because the “weather is changing”… maybe because the *season* is changing, if anything…

  • Xalem

    Living on the Canadian Prairies, I see these often on cold winter days. Usually, there is a rainbow ring around the entire sun. Our latitude here is 55 degrees North, not even close to the North Pole, and about the same latitude as Glasgow. Not sure why you don’t this more often in Britain, but here it is hardly exceptional.

  • diggers

    Uhh no. Rainbows are not formed when light goes through and comes out the other side. You would see the rainbow when looking at the sun if this were the case, which it is not. You see the rainbow opposite the sun because the light enters the drop and _reflects_ off the other side, and then emerges again. The second rainbow sometimes visible is due to a second series of reflections.

  • http://www.reducedmass.com Kári

    I’m going to call BS on this one. I may be wrong of course, but knowing how rainbows form, i can’t see how this would happen. Rainbows happen because light gets refracted inside rain droplets and reflected back to you, and the colors you see will always be at the same angle (so think of a line from sun to the droplet, and from the droplet back to you, the angle between those two lines is constant). That’s why it’s a bow (or a circle if you’re standing on a bridge etc). I can’t see how an upside down rainbow were to be formed.

  • Xalem

    Oh brother, Kari and Digger can’t believe that an upside down rainbow is possible. Well, it isn’t a typical RAIN-bow, (which is caused by light refracting in water droplets. This is an ICE halo caused by light refracting off ice crystals. When you observe a RAIN-bow the sun is always behind you, and if you could see the whole circle of the rainbow (like from an airplane), you would note that at the center was the shadow of your head. An ICE halo has the sun at it’s center. Normally you see a full circle around the sun, but sometimes only a small arc. So, yes, a rainbow can be formed upside down.

    But, you don’t have to believe me.
    http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Halo_(optical_phenomenon)
    Note the pictures of halos from France and Washington State.
    See also
    http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sun_dog
    Note that even Aristotle described them.

  • http://myspace.com dolldavis

    Ok,
    I realize this is an old blog, however, todays date is Jan. 9th 2009
    the time was 4:14 and I saw an upside down rainbow here in Va.
    It was behind the thin clouds though, not in front of them.
    And… it was absolutely upside down, by the time my husband ran and got the camera it had faded :(
    I am not a scientist, just an average american.
    Thanks,
    dolldavis

  • http://www.zmescience.com Mihai Andrei

    @dolldavis you’re really lucky to have seen it :) it’s quite rare in Va

  • Haley

    Uhm, no. This is NOT BS. I live in Pennslyvania, and I saw one today, October 6th, 2010 around 4:45. I’ve never seen one like this, and I feel lucky that I did.

  • PC

    I just saw an inverted rainbow. I am almost 60 years old and have never known such a thing existed. I live in Southern California and we are currently at the end of the longest rainstorm in more than 10 years

  • Kat

    Yesterday on Feb. 20, 2011 I saw my very first “upside down rainbow” though it was probably more likely a full circle partially hidden by the clouds. It encompassed the sun over the ocean near Ensenada, Mexico and was an absolutely amazing! Especially because directly across from it on a hillside is a giant statue of my Lord and Savior Jesus Christ holding his arms out towards it! I wish I had my camera at the time :( but even so, I will remember this for the rest of my life as a beautiful sign of HOPE :) (no matter what is posted after this regarding my comment here)

  • Peter Christie

    i saw one a few years ago on a plane going from Glasgow to Ireland. It was amazing and for years started doubting that it could have been real..

  • http://www.facebook.com/david.bolling.14 David Bolling

    I have a picture of one i seen just this past winter 2012. Im from Pontiac Mi. I was sitting on my back porch i looked up and saw it and took the picture. If i could id show you the pic, But I never thought i would ever see one or leet alone beleive they existed.

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