After the Rain, Houston Sees a Double Rainbow
Double rainbows are rare, and it can be a little awe-striking when they happen. After enduring days and days of torrential rains with Harvey, Houston got their double rainbow this week.
Rainbows come out after the storm is over, and they always seem peaceful, don't they?
I remember spotting them as a kid growing up in Nebraska, usually after getting the wits scared out of me by a huge thunderstorm or tornado threat, and they helped me let my breath out after holding it during the storm. A rainbow always made me feel like everything was going to be okay.
A double rainbow is rare, and many have said one rainbow running parallel with another signals a transformation in life. Wikipedia says, "Secondary rainbows are caused by a double reflection of sunlight inside the raindrops..., and are centred on the sun itself. As a result of the "inside" of the secondary bow being "up" to the observer, the colours appear reversed compared to the primary bow. The secondary rainbow is fainter than the primary because more light escapes from two reflections compared to one and because the rainbow itself is spread over a greater area of the sky."
In the double rainbow outside of Houston on Tuesday, we can faintly see that the red color is on top of the primary rainbow, and on the bottom of the secondary rainbow. The photo is making the rounds on the web, posted by Lisa Marie Talbott Tuesday night after snapping the photo near Trinity, TX.
Some may chalk it up to coincidence, but I'm going to think of this rare double rainbow as a big sky-sized hug for everyone impacted by Harvey this week. The recovery may be hard, but it's going to be okay in the end.