Rare Clouds Spotted Over Portland Area

They’re the kind of clouds that made people stop and stare.

And lucky for all of us–they took pictures, too!

I was showing them all night on the news. They’re called Iridescent clouds and they are a rare sight in our northwest skies.

Check out a sampling of the pictures, followed by an explanation of what causes Iridescent clouds.

And here’s the simple explanation for what causes Iridescent clouds — usually, it’s in a newly formed section of cloud that for a brief time has matching sized particles that act sort of like filters to bring out a rainbow of colors.

These are different than the arcs and ice clouds we sometimes see creating rainbow clouds over Portland, Seattle and the northwest during spring and summer months.

The weather may me quiet right now but you never know when the skies will put on a show. If you see something, please shoot it and send it to news@koin.com. Thanks so much!