Cloudbow

  





This very broad, diffuse and pastel hued bow was over the fields near noon one winter day.  Inside its crown there is a hint of a white supernumerary. The day was cool and damp but there was no rain to speak of and only a trace of mist. This bow was born of small water droplets in the damp air and the clouds rather than falling rain. Diffraction effects in small droplets broaden the bow and thin the colours to transform the narrow and colourful rainbow into a cloudbow or fogbow.