This scene captures a rare atmospheric phenomenon: an anvil-shaped cumulonimbus cloud crowned with a thin, iridescent layer. The colors appear when sunlight scatters through microscopic ice crystals at the cloud’s upper boundary, producing a spectrum similar to a rainbow but formed by diffraction, not rain. What looks dramatic is simply the physics of light interacting with a rapidly rising storm column at sunset. | AstroNature

16K views · 365 reactions | Incredible Timelapse of what looks like a cumulonimbus cloud. It has an anvil, a snow and graupel shaft, and looks like a thunderhead. It’s a small shower that has graupel and snow! This is looking over North Kansas City! | Gary Lezak | Facebook