Double rainbows form in skies over Delhi, surrounding areas

New Delhi: People in Delhi and the surrounding areas witnessed two rainbows after a heavy downpour on Sunday (May 31, 2020).

The downpour didn't just help people get relief from the rising mercury, but also made people witness a lucky phenomenon where two rainbows are formed.

Double rainbows are formed in a particularly lucky scenario. 

Double rainbows are formed when sunlight is reflected twice within a raindrop with the violet light that reaches the observer's eye coming from the higher raindrops and the red light from lower raindrops.

The sequence of colours is inverted compared to the primary rainbow, with the secondary bow appearing about 10 degrees above the primary bow.

First rainbow: The first and brighter rainbow is called the primary rainbow. It only requires the light to reflect off of the raindrop once before refracting out of the raindrop.

Second rainbow: The second and fainter rainbow is called the secondary rainbow. It occurs when refracted light does not escape the raindrop after being reflected the first time. 

A key feature of double rainbows is that the colour sequence in the second rainbow is reversed, so instead of red, orange, yellow, green, blue, indigo and violet (ROYGBIV), the colours appear in VIBGYOR order.

The shower brought the much-needed respite to the residents of Delhi-NCR with the temperature dipping to several notches. The IMD said that the maximum temperature on Sunday will rise to 35 degrees Celsius. 

The relief comes to Delhiites after the national capital was sweltering under a scorching heatwave from the past few days. 

Earlier on Tuesday (May 26) in Delhi, the mercury soared to 47.6 degrees Celsius in the Palam area and most places recorded their maximum temperatures six notches above normal.