Why Do Rainbow Usually Appears In East During Afternoon?

By Tokz
@ilocosboy (45156)
Philippines
May 8, 2017 3:33am CST
I have observed rhis many times. The rainbow appears in the eastern part and usually happen in the afternoon. We are in coastal town and the sea is located in the west. Eastern part is mountainous area. Rain usually happen in the afternoon too. Laar Saturday rhis happened again. I rook the photo. I thought it s going to rain but no. That was my photo.
9 people like this
8 responses
@PainsOnSlate (21852)
• Canada
8 May 17
All i know about it is that you need moisture in the air to get a rainbow, I have seen them over farm fields when it wasn't raining but the irrigation machines were working and caused the rainbows.
3 people like this
@ilocosboy (45156)
• Philippines
8 May 17
yeah, I have also seen like that.
1 person likes this
@owlwings (43910)
• Cambridge, England
8 May 17
A rainbow always appears in the opposite direction to the sun. Specifically, the exact centre of ALL rainbow arcs is always where the shadow of the observer's head would appear.(if it were visible, which it may not be, of course. Your local climate, with the sea to the west and hills to the east, means that the sky is clear over the sea and rainclouds appear over the hills in the afternoon (due to onshore winds at that time of day), therefore you are most likely to see a rainbow in the east in the afternoon or early evening.
3 people like this
@ilocosboy (45156)
• Philippines
8 May 17
Wow, I'm amazed, you are so well informed about rainbow. You seem like working in weather bureau. Thank you so much for this information. Now I understand why that happen.
1 person likes this
@Sreekala (34312)
• India
8 May 17
@Owlwings has given the exact reply. It is just because Sun is in the opposite direction. However, I have not seen a rainbow for long time now.
2 people like this
@ilocosboy (45156)
• Philippines
8 May 17
I think its not only me that was educated with the discussion, we are many, just wonder if he is working to weather bureau.
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@owlwings (43910)
• Cambridge, England
8 May 17
@ilocosboy No, I don't work at the weather bureau. I've just spent my life chasing rainbows without ever finding a crock of gold!
1 person likes this
@Sreekala (34312)
• India
9 May 17
@ilocosboy You need to have your common sense alone to understand a rainbow will appear in the opposite direction of Sun (I was about to write the same and saw his reply) provided if you know how to form a rainbow.
@jobelbojel (36025)
• Philippines
8 May 17
Like owlwings said it appears opposite the sun. That was my thought while reading your post before going through the comments. The sun rays reflect on the water and it illuminate in the eastern part.
1 person likes this
@ilocosboy (45156)
• Philippines
8 May 17
yeah he's a rainbow genius, he explain it well.
@responsiveme (22926)
• India
8 May 17
That's a great rainbow...And I see you got the right responses too
1 person likes this
@ilocosboy (45156)
• Philippines
8 May 17
yeah, its really good when you post discussion and you got the result.
1 person likes this
@Sampeet (64)
• Vijayawada, India
8 May 17
I always thought that this was due to the phenomenon of total internal reflection
2 people like this
@ilocosboy (45156)
• Philippines
8 May 17
now I get other point of view of answer
1 person likes this
@owlwings (43910)
• Cambridge, England
8 May 17
That's quite correct. Light enters an individual spherical droplet and is refracted and reflected once so that each colour of the spectrum leaves the droplet at a specific angle. You see a rainbow because there are millions of droplets, each making a different angle to your line of sight so each drop only shines with one colour when it's in a particular position as far as you are concerned. No two people see exactly the same rainbow, in fact!
1 person likes this
@ilocosboy (45156)
• Philippines
8 May 17
@owlwings really, I thought the rainbow just the same and all the people same as it is... well, this one for trivia.
1 person likes this
@LadyDuck (472060)
• Switzerland
8 May 17
I see that @owlwings already explained. If it always happens in the afternoon, it will always be in the same position.
1 person likes this
@ridingbet (66854)
• Philippines
8 May 17
maybe because the dark clouds are getting heavier and the droplets of water in the form of rain are refracted from the setting sun? hahaha! i don't know if my reason is pertinent, kabsat.
1 person likes this
@ilocosboy (45156)
• Philippines
8 May 17
yeah I think that's the idea.
1 person likes this