Residents of China’s Haikou town had been left shocked once they noticed a completely unique phenomenon withinside the sky: a rainbow, however withinside the form of a cloud. However, the phenomenon became now no longer a rainbow however, in fact, a cloud.
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What became visible withinside the skies of Haikou on August 21 is known as a ‘Pileus cloud’, additionally called a ‘cap cloud and ’headheadband cloud’. According to The Weather Network, a pileus is shaped whilst the hastily growing air withinside the updraft of a towering cumulus cloud (additionally known as a cumulonimbus) pushes in opposition to the cooler air above it. This reasons condensation of the moisture proper alongside the pinnacle of the updraft, main to the formation of the Pileus.
When the daylight is on the proper angle, diffraction of mild takes region among the droplets and ice crystals withinside the cloud, giving the Pileus its colours, which resemble the ones in a rainbow.
However, such clouds commonly have a totally quick life. This is due to the fact those get ‘eaten up’ through the cloud on pinnacle of which they appear; the decrease cloud rises up via convection to take in Pileus.
