Rare Pink Rainbows Light Skies Of South And West England

"Just waiting for the unicorn to trot past."
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A pink rainbow lit up the skies above parts of Britain on Monday evening.

The rare sight was spotted in Dorset, Somerset and Gloucestershire.

Rainbows that appear at sunrise and sunset appear pink because the sun is lower in the sky.

Staff team wave one under a pink rainbow just waiting for the unicorn to trot past! pic.twitter.com/arosZ0c1Pi

— Shannon Marshall (@DontLetYourTea) June 25, 2019

A rainbow against a pink sky pic.twitter.com/dhS3vWiHGR

— sarahpullan⛸ (@pullan_sarah) June 24, 2019

Pink rainbow tonight 🌈 pic.twitter.com/phpQxRhbcR

— A little bit Georgios (@Georgios_Sot) June 24, 2019

@SimonOKing Pink rainbow last night over #Dorchester #Dorset. Are they uncommon? Don’t recall seeing one before. pic.twitter.com/dUKemVZJfX

— sue st (@suest54) June 25, 2019

Things are about the get funky A pink blue-grey sky with a rainbow & the breeze has suddenly dropped away to nothing Looks like s huge storm is about to erupt pic.twitter.com/KT8QQqKkHP

— dick_taylor (@dick_taylor) June 24, 2019

Did you see the Pink Rainbow over #Dorset last night?

This was taken by Lauren @Laurenjademidd in Beaminster. pic.twitter.com/dekL0S3EOv

— BBC Radio Solent (@BBCRadioSolent) June 25, 2019

The optical illusion is caused when the colours at the red end of the spectrum are the only ones to be refracted - making the rainbow appear pink.

Angela Taylor spotted the rainbow above Marie Road in Dorchester.

She said: “It was absolutely beautiful. I’ve never seen anything like it.

“I thought to myself, this world can be such an ugly place, and then you see something like this.”

Rainbows are an arc-shaped spectrum of light which are created by refraction and reflection.

BBC Weather expert Lan Boutland said: “Rainbows witnessed at dawn and dusk can, on occasion, be pink because of the low sun angle at that time of day.”

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