When my husband was younger, he and a friend were driving to work....roughly around 10:00am. They lived in Arizona at that time and was driving through the desert. No clouds...only the hot sun in the sky. As they were driving they happened to notice a rainbow...but it was not a normal rainbow. It was in the middle of the desert....nothing else around..no buildings, nothing. The rainbow was vertical. Straight up and down, no curve. It was not messy...it was in perfect rectangle form. And it was touching the ground and rose about fifty feet then stopped. They were running late so the could not stop...but got about 600 feet from it. They also noticed that where the "rainbow" was...there was wind around it. I've searched and searched and can find nothing. Has anyone else experienced this before?
Answers (1)
A rainbow is caused by any material where the speed of light changes. The angle of the ray changes according to colors, and that spreads the ray into a rainbow. In a regular rainbow the light is reflected and forms a circle centered on your head with the sun directly behind you. What you saw was a type of wind shear bending light sideways.