Stunning “rainbow cloud” appears over a city in China

• A strange weather phenomenon amazed a city.
• The unusual formation was referred to as a «rainbow cloud».
• The video of the phenomenon has gone viral on social media.

A strange weather phenomenon that looked like something out of a science fiction movie surprised a city in China, who gazed in awe at what they described as a «rainbow cloud». The video of the incident went viral on social media.

Quoting Jam Press, the New York Post reported on Tuesday that internet users were shocked by a «rainbow cloud» that emerged over a city in China, calling it an inter-dimensional phenomenon. A video of that weather anomaly racked up more than 28 million views and onlookers wondered what could have caused it.

Strange “rainbow cloud” stuns a city

In the impressive video, filmed in the city of Haikou in Hainan and posted on August 26, a glowing circle can be seen floating above a dark cloud like a kind of cosmic ring of various colors. It was impossible not to notice it.

However, the extraterrestrial-looking spectacle turned out to actually be a pileus cloud, which is a soft cloud that forms over a growing cumulus (dense, puffy, and white) due to updrafts from a thunderstorm, Jam Press explained.

What was the «rainbow cloud» really?

«The rapidly rising air in the updraft of a towering cumulus pushes against the cooler air above it, condensing the moisture right along the top of the updraft,» explains the Weather Network. «The end result is a graceful pileus donning its neighbouring cloud like a cap.»

The rainbow halo is actually an atmospheric optical phenomenon called cloud iridescence. This occurs when «water droplets or ice crystals in the cloud diffract the light around the outside of the droplet, as opposed to bending the light through it,» according to Weather Channel meteorologist Jen Carfagno.

“Mother Nature amazes me!” (Click on the image to see the video)

The expert explained to CBS News: “The colors of the spectrum are not as neat and organized in iridescence as in a rainbow,” adding, “tCloud iridescence reminds me of pixie dust or unicorn sprinkles.” Without a doubt, the «rainbow cloud» would amaze anyone.

“That is a real atmospheric event as unbelievable as it seems. Mother Nature amazes me!” one Twitter user marveled, while another internet user also quoted by the New York Post jokingly commented: “China created a portal to another world.” However, the mystery was already solved.