Coastal wonder: forked rainbow over Linda Mar

I captured this forked rainbow from the Linda Mar Shopping Center parking lot, at 5:18 PM on Friday - light rains moving through, with clouds extending maybe a mile offshore, but clear beyond that to the west, rains to the north and east, very calm seas.

I’ve enhanced the photo a bit in Photoshop, but still not anywhere as impressive as in person. At least a dozen people were standing in the parking lot staring at it. I’m not sure if this was visible from anywhere else.

My best guess is that the larger bow, which appeared first, is from the reflection of the sun off the ocean, the tighter, sharper one to the right (appearing after the sun had moved below the cloud layer extending offshore) from the actual sun.

EDITOR’S NOTE: There’s a lot more information on the formation forked and other unusual rainbows in Light and Color in the Outdoors, by M.G.J. Minnaert.

Chuck Kozak

Click on the picture for a larger version.