Tourist Captures Image Of Rare ‘Rainbow Cloud’ in Jamaica

A visitor to the island has captured an image of a rare cloud while vacationing in Ocho Rios.

The tourist, Beckie Bone Dunning shared the  photo of the phenomenon on The Weather Channel’s Facebook page with the caption “I was in Ocho Rios Jamaica last week, storn [sic] clouds were approaching.. didn’t quite cover the sun yet.. I looked up and saw this.. never seen it before in my life. can u explain it?”

According to weather.com senior meteorologist Nick Wiltgen, the phenomenon is known as cloud iridescence.

“In clouds, iridescence is a byproduct of sunlight being diffracted by water droplets or ice crystals, causing the various wavelengths of light – which we see as colours – to emerge at different angles,” says Wiltgen.

“As they reach the observer’s eye, the observer perceives a pattern of various colours as those different wavelengths reach his or her eye from distinct directions, rather than being jumbled together and appearing whitish.”