Rainbow clouds: What are they and why do they happen?

In Wolverhampton the whole sky seemed to be filled with ethereal rainbow-coloured clouds

Have you ever seen a rare rainbow cloud?

Residents in Scotland were amazed when they spotted this rare phenomenon in the skies this week.

Nacrous cloud spotted by BBC Weather Watcher SazzyJ who said that they'd "never seen anything like it before"

One person said it looked like a "portal to the next dimension".

Sometimes referred to as mother-of-pearl too, their scientific name is nacreous clouds and they rarely spotted in the UK because they need very specific conditions to appear.

This impressive cloud was spotted over Aberdeen

The Mother-of-pearl cloud was spotted shimmering in the sky above Angus on Tuesday evening

How are they formed?

They're some of the highest clouds in our atmosphere and form in very cold conditions over polar regions.

It happens when the sun is just below the horizon which causes the clouds to be lit from below creating these gorgeous colours.

The ice particles are much smaller than those you'd find in more common clouds, which causes the light to be scattered in a different way creating an iridescent appearance.

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They're more likely to be seen in places like Canada and Scandinavia because they have higher latitudes than the UK.

But in just the right conditions, if you're very lucky, you might once day catch a glimpse of these beautiful clouds.

Did you manage to see them? Let us know in the comments below