Hey Ray! Things You May Not Know About Rainbows

PITTSBURGH (KDKA) -- One of the most attention getting weather phenomena is the rainbow.

Most of us know the basics about "the bow."

Light is made up of all the colors, and when the sun shines into rain drops, they are refracted and reflected into their separate colors, and we see it as a rainbow.

There are some things you may not know about rainbows, though, like, why don't you see rainbows during the middle of the day?

This has to do with the angle of the sunlight coming to earth.

The angle of light where you stop seeing rainbows is 42° and above.

If the sun is too high in the sky, the angle makes the rainbow appear below you.

You may notice this if you use a hose in the middle of a sunny day.

A rainbow may form, but you have to look down to see it. That is why you typically see rainbows in the early morning or evening.

Have you ever seen a double rainbow?

While it is an amazing sight, look closely at the two rainbows.

The colors are reversed between the two! For a double rainbow, each raindrop refracts the light twice, giving the reversed color order.

Rainbows always happen opposite of the sun.

That means to quickly find one, just stand with the sun to your back, and if a rainbow is going to show up, it will happen in front of you.

Since we don't often see it, many people don't realize that a rainbow is actually a full circle.

When standing on the ground, you only get to see 180° of it.

If you want to see all 360°, you need to view the rainbow from above.

I was able to create this by holding a camera above me while creating mist with a garden hose.

You will notice that the shadow from the camera on a selfie stick is right in the middle.

The shadow of the observer (or camera) will be right in the middle for you too, if you try to recreate this at home.

One thing I won't share with you is how to find the pot of gold at the end of a rainbow.  Some secrets are better left unsaid!