Did you see the double rainbow Sunday evening? Here’s what caused it
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IDAHO FALLS — A beautiful double rainbow illuminated the sky in eastern Idaho Sunday evening.
EastIdahoNews.com received dozens of pictures of the double rainbow which you can view below.
“They are not all that uncommon. Basically, it’s just the reflection of light essentially through water particles in the atmosphere,” said Andrew McKaughan, a meteorologist with the National Weather Service in Pocatello.
According to the National Weather Service explanation of double rainbows online, it says, “We have followed the path of a ray of light as it enters and is reflected inside the raindrop. But, not all of the energy of the ray escapes the raindrop after it is reflected once. A part of the ray is reflected again, and travels along a different path inside the drop to emerge from the drop at a different angle.”
The rainbow that is normally seen is called the primary rainbow and is produced from one internal reflection.
“Typically, a double (rainbow), the above (one) is usually fainter and it will be above the brighter one. It’s basically just a double reflection of the light so the second one is not going to be as pronounced as the first one. Just think of it as a double reflection. It’s not quite as crisp as the first one,” McKaughan said. “Additionally, the colors will be ‘reversed’ in the second one due to the light being reflected twice.”
Click here to read more about rainbows.
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