Fabled pots of gold aside, witnessing a rainbow is a marvelous experience. The occurrence on Sunday evening had many Long Islanders posting their photographic evidence on various social media outlets.
Not to get all scientific on you, but a rainbow forms from the path of a ray of sunlight through a single raindrop. According to the National Weather Service:
As light enters the raindrop, it is refracted (the path of the light is bent to a different angle), and some of the light is reflected by the internal, curved, mirror-like surface of the raindrop, and finally is refracted back out the raindrop toward the observer.
Several user-submitted photos included a double rainbow. A double rainbow occurs when the ray emerges from the raindrop at a different angle, producing a reflection of the primary rainbow.
Patch put a call out for readers to share their rainbow photos with us. Enjoy these and upload your own if you snapped one!
