Rainbows wow storm watchers as warnings cancelled

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Image source, WestDevonDuck/Weather Watchers
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Every rainbow is a circle but from the ground usually only its upper half can be seen, as seen from this one in Werrington
Image source, beachcomber/Weather Watchers
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A double rainbow was seen in parts of Cornwall, including in Bude
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A rainbow in Launceston. Water droplets that are refracted are usually rain drops but could also be spray from a waterfall, a fountain or even fog.
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There were yellow weather warnings issued for Devon and Cornwall on Thursday which were cancelled
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Double rainbows, like this one in Plymouth, occur because the sunlight is reflected twice inside the raindrop
Image source, Down2Earth/Weather Watchers
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Rainfall of 50mm (1.97in) or more was expected in some areas of Devon and Cornwall during Storm Benjamin

6 hours ago

Rainbows have been wowing people on a day when heavy rain battered the South West.

In Devon and Cornwall two weather warnings were cancelled on Thursday after Storm Benjamin was due to hit.

Rainfall of 50mm (1.97in) or more had been expected in some areas of Devon and Cornwall.

A rainbow is formed by the dispersion of light when it passes through a raindrop and it slows and changes direction, due to water being denser than air.

Each individual droplet of water acts as a tiny prism that both disperses the light and reflects it back to the eye.

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