Edinburgh –
A rare phenomenon has appeared in the Scottish skies. The sight of the sky made a country shocked.
Reporting from BBC on Thursday (21/12/2023), the phenomenon was actually a rare rainbow called mother of pearl. The color of the clouds is not like a rainbow, but more like sparkling pearls.
This rare rainbow forms when one of the nacreous clouds forms in extremely cold conditions in the polar regions and within the stratosphere. These clouds are at an altitude of around 19-31 km, far above normal clouds.
Usually mother of pearl is at the north pole. It is formed in air with a temperature of around -800 degrees Celsius. Small ice crystals reflect sunlight and give the clouds a pearlescent color.
Sometimes the cold polar air trapped by strong winds high in the atmosphere called the polar vortex weakens. This allows cooler air to sink south towards our latitudes.
This sight was commented on by BBC Weather Observer Saazzy J who saw it live. In his life, he admitted that he had never seen a rainbow like that.
Mother-of-pearl rainbow seen in Scotland Photo: (BBC)
“A portal to another dimension,” he said.
Not only amazed, the sight of this rainbow makes residents a little afraid.
“The cloud lighting was brief, eerie and bright when the sun went down tonight. Not sure what the exact phenomenon was,” said one resident.
Nacreous clouds are mostly visible for a few hours at sunset or sunrise. Due to their height, these clouds are illuminated by sunlight which makes them appear brighter in the night sky.
Because of the height and temperature required, these clouds also have another name, namely polar stratospheric clouds.
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(bnl/fem)
2023-12-21 16:25:43
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