Double Rainbow over Munising Bay by Michigan Nut Photography

The unrelenting flooding across Michigan and the country has a lot of us looking for the rainbow, and thankfully Michigan Nut found two for us! The National Weather Service shares how double rainbows are formed:

Sometimes we see two rainbows at once. Not all of the energy of the ray escapes the raindrop after it is reflected once. A part of the ray is reflected again, and travels along a different path inside the drop to emerge from the drop at a different angle. The rainbow we normally see is called the primary rainbow and is produced from one internal reflection. The secondary rainbow arises from two internal reflections and the rays exit the drop the second time at an angle of around 50 degrees, rather than the 42 degrees for the primary rainbow. This effect produces the secondary rainbow, with the colors reversed from the primary rainbow. It is possible for light to be reflected more than twice within a raindrop, but these additional rainbows are typically never seen under normal circumstances.

Atmospheric Optics (the OG rainbow site) adds that secondary rainbows appear broader than the primary rainbow, measuring approximately 1.8 times its width so the top rainbow is the copy!

John shared this photo of a doble rainbow over Lake Superior’s Munising Bay on his Facebook. For sure follow him there and view & purchase his work at michigannutphotography.com.