Double rainbow arcs over Ironbridge - gorge lights up after afternoon showers
Rain gave way to a moment of pure theatre over the Iron Bridge today, as not one but two rainbows swept across the gorge.
A stunning double rainbow has been captured over the Ironbridge Gorge by a local photographer.
Telford-based photographer Mike Sheridan snapped a photograph of the atmospheric phenomenon on Tuesday afternoon (March 24).
A rainbow is created when sunlight is scattered by water droplets in the air. As light enters each droplet, it bends (refraction), bounces off the back of the droplet (reflection), and then bends again as it exits.
This process splits the white sunlight into its component colours. Colours with longer wavelengths (reds) bend less than those with shorter ones (blues), forming the familiar multicoloured arc.
A double rainbow happens when sunlight is reflected twice: the two rainbows are actually two reflections coming from different angles.
The inner arc is the bright, familiar rainbow, while the outer arc is fainter and has its colours reversed - think 'vain in battle gave York of Richard'.
While pop culture has us thinking that double rainbows are rare, they're actually a fairly common phenomenon.
If you're chasing an extra special kind of rainbow, keep an eye out for a twinned rainbow - when a single rainbow splits into two parallel arcs that share a common pot of gold.
Unlike double rainbows, both arcs of a twinned rainbow show the colours in the same order.
