Typically, a rainbow includes red, yellow, green, and blue - the entire spectrum. However, in Jan Coiman's photo, a tall rainbow over the city of Clotinge in the Netherlands is colored … only red. According to Spaceweather.com, the picture was taken on February 18. According to Coiman, he had never seen a rainbow of this color before - it appeared a few minutes after sunrise.
Why is this rainbow red? The fact is that all other colors in it were scattered by air molecules and dust particles in front of the low-lying sun. Another interesting fact noted by the photographer: there was no rain that day. An expert on atmospheric optical phenomena Les Cowley, however, believes that there were raindrops, but in the distance - it could rain on the horizon, or there was a virga. Virga refers to rain that evaporates before reaching the ground, usually seen as a noticeable strip of precipitation that comes out from under the clouds. Unusual red rainbows are much more common than you might think - they usually appear at sunrise or sunset.