Fogbow: The Mysterious White Rainbow

Until today I had never heard of a fogbow - but I'll look anywhere for that illusive pot of gold!

A fogbow or fog bow or white rainbow or cloudbow is similar to a rainbow but appears in fog or mist rather than in rain showers.

Rainbows are formed when sunlight hits large water droplets, displaying a spectrum of colour. However, in a fogbow, the water droplets in the mist are too small to refract and reflect light, meaning the arc appears to be whitish in colour. Well that's what I'm told.

The photo above was taken from the Golden Gate Bridge, San Francisco.

Maybe fogbows are common in your country but, as I said earlier, I have never heard of them before today and have definitely never seen any in England. It's good to hear about something 'new'.

Photo credits: Top two by BrokenInaGlory and bottom two are in the Public Domain.

Rainbow Posts:
The Double Rainbow Falls Into Place Perfectly
Black Elk On Peace And At The Door Of Death
It's Going To Be A Special Day

The Double Rainbow Falls Into Place Perfectly

It's interesting how some days things fall into place.  Last night I was talking to someone and the subject of double rainbows was mentioned.  I said that I couldn't remember ever seeing one.

Today my wife and I had to go to the local shops, about a 15 minutes walk.  It was a rough day weather wise. The rain had been real cats and dogs stuff and the wind was doing what it does best: blowing.  We resisted the temptation to take the car and set off wearing raincoats and carrying an umbrella.

Just as I was locking our front door.  I rushed back inside to get my camera, no idea why, but felt I might need it despite the awful conditions.  My wife thought I was nuts, but nothing unusual there!

We bought what we needed and were walking home when it bucketed down but in the sky was a rainbow.  I got out my camera and snapped the photo below. Nothing very special, but at least I could say to Karin, "See, I did need the camera." It's nice to be right (occasionally!).

We went about another twenty yards or so and there it was, the rainbow had been joined by a friend: a double rainbow.  There were houses in the way to get a good picture but I managed to stand on a wall and snap my first double rainbow pic - as at the top of the post - while Karin held the umbrella and our shopping.

When we got home Karin said that she didn't really feel like cooking and at the precise moment the phone rang.  It was our son wondering if we would like come over for dinner. Perfect.

P.S. I'm sure that everyone has seen the viral double rainbow video, it's had 31m hits, but just in case you haven't here it is.