Pictures of rare 'lightning rainbows' illuminating UK skies break internet; Check out

On June 13, an extremely rare double “Lightning Rainbows” spotted in skies across the United Kingdom stunned people as many captured the spectacular weather phenomenon on camera. Accompanied by thunderstorms and heavy downpours, the rainbows and the “powerful” lightning occurred together in the skyline due to sufficient direct sun hitting the rainfall during thunderstorms, the Met Office said in a statement.  

Residents described the sight as “incredible”, “appealing to eyes” and “quite a spectacle” while sharing the images on Twitter. A user named Nicholas Shiell shared an image of a double rainbow on Twitter with a caption, "Regardless of what's happening in the world right now; here's a photo of a rainbow." Another user, Poppy Mae said she saw the "most perfect rainbow", sharing the picture, she wrote, "The camera doesn't reflect that but it was beautiful and the colours were so vivid.” Similarly, Ray Smith said that he spotted the rainbowed in the skyline with a “sheet of lightning". 

While the UK meteorological department office forecasted thundery showers forecast in parts of the UK through this week, the experts said that the downpours with lightening exactly created ample of the electrical charge along with the direct sunlight that managed to hit the rains coupled with a thunderstorm to give rise to this unique phenomenon in the sky. The lighting and the rainbows were witnessed in Hednesford, Staffordshire, Stockton, Warwickshire, Birmingham, and several other states across the UK. Besides, users also shared incredible photos of the sky after the heavy downpours, as requested by the MET department.  

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Many tried to capture the phenomenon before

According to a science journal, the ‘rainbow lightning’ is a rare meteorological phenomenon for which the weather conditions have to be perfect. A Storm chaser McCown wrote on his official Twitter handle that he had struggled to document the rainbow and lightening together for at least seven years, however, the opportunity arrived one day. He mentioned that while he captured his "Lucky Strike," he noticed the sunlight falling directly on the rain droplets. The sky during the sunset was clear due to rain, but polarized storm clouds were still looming ahead of the cameraman. Similarly, a sheriff in Texas captured the unique phenomenon when he photographed a cloud-to-cloud lightning flash splitting a double rainbow. Astronomer Phil Plait accidentally caught the same display on film while shooting a YouTube video on his Colorado lawn. 

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