Home
Weather Dublin
WeatherRadar
RainfallRadar
TemperatureRadar
WindRadar
LightningRadar
Weather News
Editor's Pick
Discover the app
Weather widget
Contact us
Apps
    Home / Editor's Pick /

    Know your rainbow: Do you know all the different types?

14:00
2 October 2022

Know your rainbow
Do you know all the different types?

Dramatic double rainbow spotted by a Weather & Radar user
Dramatic double rainbow spotted by a Weather & Radar user

If you're tired of the rain, then let's take a look at the bright side. Or, in this case, on the colourful side. Because rain can often lead to rainbows!

A rainbow occurs when the sun shines on a curtain of rain in the air. The sunlight is split and reflected by the raindrops. We see the different colours in a rainbow because the colours in the sun's rays all have different wavelengths and are refracted differently.

The sun's rays contain all the colours at once. But when the sun's rays hit a round raindrop, the drop behaves like a prism, both deflecting and reflecting the light, splitting it into several colours.

The sun's position on the horizon determines the rainbow's appearance and shape. The sun must be at an angle of less than 42 degrees above the horizon, and the lower it is, the more curved the rainbow will be.

Double rainbows occur when there are two reflections on the back of a single raindrop, but at different angles.

Let's take a look at the rainbow's ghostly sister: the fogbow. The white arc contrasts beautifully with the light blue sky.

Fogbows are also called white rainbows and occur in much the same way as ordinary rainbows, with sunlight refracting through water droplets in the sky. The only difference is the size of the water droplets.

Privacy Policy

In rainbows, the water droplets are larger, so we can see more colours refracting through the droplets. In a fogbow, light is refracted through much smaller droplets, so only the white colour appears.

Sometimes, however, a red band can be seen at the outer edge of the misty arc and a blue band at the inner edge of the arc.

But if there is gold at the end of the rainbow, what might be hiding at the end of a fogbow?

We want to see your cool weather and nature experiences! You can send us photos and videos via the uploader here in the news section, or with the link here.

Weather & Radar editorial team
More on the topic
Severe weather in Spain and Greece. Streets under water. . Weather Videos. Monday 5 October 2026
Severe weather near Barcelona, alongside a weather radar map showing heavy rain and thunderstorms.
Weather VideosMonday 5 October 2026

Streets under water

Severe weather in Spain and Greece
Autumn is setting in across Europe. Cooler, wetter and windier. . . Tuesday 6 October 2026
Weather maps show a sharp drop in temperature across Central Europe, accompanied by rain and thunderstorms.
Tuesday 6 October 2026

Cooler, wetter and windier

Autumn is setting in across Europe
Wednesday washout for parts of England. Disruption possible. . . Tuesday 6 October 2026
Weather map showing heavy rain from London through eastern England toward Norwich, with a flood warning symbol over East Anglia.
Tuesday 6 October 2026

Disruption possible

Wednesday washout for parts of England
All weather news
This might also interest you
A frozen start to the weekend. Icy conditions. . . Friday 13 February 2026
UK temperature map dated 14.02 showing widespread subzero values in blue shading, with readings such as −4 in Glasgow, −3 in Dublin, and −2 in London, alongside a blue thermometer icon.
Friday 13 February 2026

Icy conditions

A frozen start to the weekend
New records for England and Wales. Broken again tomorrow?. . . Thursday 25 June 2026
Temperature map of southwest Britain on 25.06 showing extreme heat across southern Wales and southwest England, with Bute Park in Cardiff highlighted at 34.2°C and Yeovilton at 36.4°C amid widespread deep red heat zones.
Thursday 25 June 2026

Broken again tomorrow?

New records for England and Wales
Seasonal warmth between spring thunder. Your weather - Your shots. . . Sunday 19 April 2026
Split image showing coastal sunset with layered lenticular clouds over rooftops and palm trees on the left, and a green valley with river and hills under soft daylight on the right.
Sunday 19 April 2026

Your weather - Your shots

Seasonal warmth between spring thunder
All articles
Weather & Radar

Weather & Radar is also available on

Google Play StoreApp Store

Company

Contact us Privacy Policy Legal info Accessibility statement

Services

Uploader

Socials

facebooktwitteryouTubelinkList