This is something you might not see every day. A fisherman in Europe recently witnessed an incredible phenomenon, a rare red rainbow. After they shared a picture of the beautiful spectacle online, it took off like a storm.
Aviv Junno, 31, noticed the rainbow when he was fishing on a boat on Lake Päijänne, which is located in south-central Finland, near Haukkasalo Island, on July 11.
“It started raining and this rainbow appeared,” Junno
told BBC, alluding to the sight. “It was pretty amazing because you could see it from start to end but also it was only red.” Although Junno has been a fisherman all his life, he admitted that he never had come across something like that before.
Junno, who didn’t realize at that time how “rare” the sight was, said, “it gave me the creeps so headed back home for the night.”
For those who are curious to know what makes a red rainbow, EarthSky
states that the phenomenon occurs when the sun is at the horizon, i.e. at sunrise or sunset while it’s raining.
The event tends to follow the same physics concept that makes a sunset or sunrise, which gives off red and orange hues.
Les Cowly, a chemical physicist by training who manages the
site Atmospheric Optics, further explained the less-common sight of red rainbows.
“Sunset and sunrise rays travel long paths through the lower atmosphere where they are scattered by air molecules and dust,” he wrote. “Short wavelength blues and greens are scattered most strongly leaving the remaining transmitted light proportionately richer in reds and yellows. The result, glorious sunsets and red rainbows.”
Junno captured a photo of the red-hued rainbow at around 11 p.m. local time just as the sun was setting,
according to WUSA.
He then shared a beautiful picture of the unusual sight on his Instagram
account with the caption, “Red midnight rainbow.”
People from different parts of the world quickly took to the comments section to share their appreciation for Junno’s phenomenal find, referring to it as “postcard-worthy” and “beautiful.”
For Junno, who said the response to his photo “has been pretty crazy,” he hopes that with this, he could probably convince his girlfriend to go fishing with him once, according to
Fox News.
The red rainbow was even spotted almost a month earlier above the Birmingham skies on June 13. According to the
Daily Star, Abigail Daisy Parkes, who filmed the visual phenomenon that day, was shocked upon witnessing the red rainbow.
“This is amazing, oh my God, I’ve never seen anything like it,” she said in a video that was shared on YouTube.
Watch a video of the rare red rainbow:
