Read the full article on KETV 7
Hi folks, WLKY meteorologist Eric Zernik here with you. If you were looking up in the skies earlier today on this Thursday, you might have noticed this rainbow cloud or what we call cloud iridescence. What this is, is when you have days like this where it’s super dry out, but you have bright blue sunny skies, then you get some of these high clouds to develop and high clouds. are made up of very tiny ice crystals and that acts as the prism and as you know, *** prism reflects that sunlight creating that rainbow display and that’s basically what’s going on in the sky with these very high thin clouds creating that rainbow effect and it just looks really cool out there so hopefully you’re able to check that out earlier on this Thursday.
Advertisement
Photos taken this week show what looks like a rainbow floating in the clouds near Louisville, Kentucky. So, what are these colorful clouds and what causes them?The “rainbow clouds” are something known as “cloud iridescence,” a rare, natural weather phenomenon that can create bright rainbow colors in the sky.Meteorologist Eric Zernich at sister station WLKY said we normally see this effect on dry, sunny days when thin clouds are drifting high up in the altitude. Those clouds are made up of tiny ice crystals, which act like a giant prism in the sky.As sunlight travels through the cloud and the ice crystals that make it up, it bends and reflects the light, thus creating the rainbow cloud that many people saw Thursday.
Photos taken this week show what looks like a rainbow floating in the clouds near Louisville, Kentucky. So, what are these colorful clouds and what causes them?
The “rainbow clouds” are something known as “cloud iridescence,” a rare, natural weather phenomenon that can create bright rainbow colors in the sky.
Advertisement
Meteorologist Eric Zernich at sister station WLKY said we normally see this effect on dry, sunny days when thin clouds are drifting high up in the altitude. Those clouds are made up of tiny ice crystals, which act like a giant prism in the sky.
As sunlight travels through the cloud and the ice crystals that make it up, it bends and reflects the light, thus creating the rainbow cloud that many people saw Thursday.
