Photos: Double Rainbow Over NYC After Drenching Thunderstorm
June 20, 2017, 8:24 a.m.
So, how can we go for a triple rainbow?
Monday's Severe Thunderstorm brought in dramatic clouds, downpours and downed trees. Then Mother Nature set the stage for a pretty good double rainbow at sunset.
Purple rain, purple rain. ☔️💗💜 #nbc4ny pic.twitter.com/GIfRnvI73r
— Lauren Scala (@LaurenScala4NY) June 20, 2017
Post storm double rainbow outside @CNN in NYC. #DoubleRainbow @Gothamist pic.twitter.com/ZknzQlEk91
— Stephen Samaniego (@StephenCNN) June 20, 2017
Double rainbows are not uncommon, but it's possible everyone's only been noticing after Hungrybear9562's 2010 ode to one ("Whoa, that's so intense"). Here's how a double rainbow "works," according to Accuweather:
[A] ray of sunlight passes through a raindrop, reflecting off the back of the drop at varying angles.
Along with this reflection is refraction of light that causes of a spectrum of colors-- red, orange, yellow, green, blue, indigo and violet.
Certain angles and "bending" reflect light better for refraction to occur, and the amount of light refraction corresponds to wavelength and color...
Nature's natural color spectrum always elicits the same pattern (red, orange, yellow, green, blue, indigo, violet) when light is refracted, commonly known from the Roy G. Biv mnemonic.
While a primary rainbow is visible when light is reflected once off the back of a raindrop, a secondary and usually dimmer rainbow is spotted when light is reflected twice in a more complicated pattern.
The colors of the second rainbow are inverted, with blue on the outside and red moved to the inside. The second bow appears dimmer or cloudier because much more light is released from two reflections, and both bows cover a larger portion of the sky.
What's actually rare is the triple or quadruple rainbow, which may be the Great White Whale for nature photographers.
At any rate, the Monday night rainbow sparked hope that the best personal injury lawyer jingle ever can be saved:
