Video: Weather explained - How does a rainbow occur?

Unsettled weather sometimes has a great ending. Heavy showers might dampen your plans, but often this type of weather mix produces some truly spectacular rainbows when sunshine returns. How do they form?

Rainbows occur when sunlight is refracted and reflected by raindrops into our eyes. We see the different colors within a rainbow as the colors within the sun's rays all have different wavelengths and refract differently.

The sun's location on the horizon influences the occurrence and shape of a rainbow. The sun needs to be at an angle less than 42 degrees above the horizon where the lower it is, the more curved a rainbow will be. Double rainbows, like the ones pictured, occur when there are two reflections at the back of a single raindrop but at different angles.

Send us your picture on social media or by submitting your pics here. Learn more about how rainbows form by watching our Weather Explained Video below: