Rare rainbow-like cloud appears in sky in China's Haikou | VIDEO

Residents in Haikou city of China witnessed an astounding phenomenon in the sky earlier this month. Rainbow coloured scarf clouds were seen on August 21 in the sky of the city. Photos and videos of the phenomenon have now gone viral on social media platforms.

Rainbows in the sky are frequent. Rainbows are seen whenever a person sees the sky at an angle with water drops in the air and sunlight shining from behind. Rainbows are commonly seen in the sky during the morning and early evening.

Rainbow colored scarf cloud over Haikou city in China pic.twitter.com/ewKmQjsiIE

— Sunlit Rain (@Earthlings10m) August 26, 2022

It was later discovered that a unique phenomenon known as 'Pileus' was at the play in Haikou sky that showed clouds appear like a rainbow. 

Pileus is an accessory cloud of a small horizontal extent, in the form of a cap or hood above the top or attached to the upper part of a cumuliform cloud that often penetrates it. Several Pileus may fairly often be observed in superposition, according to the world meteorological department.

A pileus is usually formed when the rapidly rising air in the updraft of a towering cumulus cloud pushes against the cooler air above it. It leads to condensation of the moisture right along the top of the updraft, leading to the formation of the Pileus.

Haikou is a port city and the capital of China's island province Hainan. Haikou city is situated on the northern coast of Hainan, by the mouth of the Nandu River.

China weather has taken a sudden turn this year with many areas facing extreme heatwave conditions and drought-like situation while flood-like situation in a region of southwest due to heavy rains.