Rainbow clouds over Orlando: Here's what they are, and how they form
These beautiful clouds are called Iridescent Pileus clouds. It forms when two types of clouds combine and as the sunlight filters through, it creates a sort of prism, giving the rainbow effect. Photo credit: Olga Enid Màrquez.
Tuesday evening, if you happened to be looking up, you may have seen some rainbow-esqe clouds high in the sky.
As showers and thunderstorms moved across Orlando, several viewers sent in photos to FOX 35 News of these cool-looking "rainbow" clouds in the sky.
Fun fact: They're actually two different clouds forming together – and the sunlight shining through at just the right angle.
Do these rainbow clouds have a real name? Yup!
They do! They're called Iridescent Pileus clouds, and they're technically a mixture of two different cloud types, which then looks like there is a rainbow forming around them.
How do Iridescent Pileus cloud form?
An Iridescent Pileus cloud forms when a pileus cloud, a smooth cap-like cloud, develops above a larger cumulus cloud, those clouds that appear puffy or fluffy in the sky.
When the sunlight interacts with the smooth pileus cloud at just the right angle, it refracts the light, showing all of the colors on the spectrum, similar to the colors you see floating on a bubble in the air.
What does it look like a rainbow?
Just like a rainbow, you need sunlight and a raindrop or an ice crystal to act as a prism to refract and reflect the sunlight. Clouds are very large masses of water vapor – or droplets – floating in the air.
Iridescent pileus clouds are more likely to be seen when the sun is low in the sky, and the particles in the pileus cloud are uniformly sized and relatively small.
Is it rare?
While pileus clouds are not uncommon to see in the sky, iridescent pileus clouds are a more rare sight. It takes not only the cloud to be at the right spot and be the correct structure, but also the sunlight to be at the right angle.