It was an ordinary day when everything started to happen. I saw a weather forecast on the television that it has a similar strength as typhoon Mamie that devastated Korea in 1985 (Mamie is recorded as the worst typhoon cyclone to affect northeastern China in 26 years). I wasn’t scared of the typhoon at first because I did not know how strong typhoon Mamie was back in the day. After hearing the devastating impact that the typhoon left in Korea, naturally, I was worried about the impact of the typhoon and was scared that it will directly hit Seoul, which is where I live. So, I woke up early the next day for my class and quickly checked if the typhoon was already here. Luckily, typhoon Bavi did not directly hit Korea and moved away fairly safely. This was an unexpected luck that Korea had, and I was truly thankful that it did not completely mess up the agricultural activities in Korea. It would have been a terrible year for the farmers if the typhoon directly hit their farm during the era of pandemic. However, it still rained in the morning due to the typhoon, and it finally stopped raining when I was about to eat my lunch at home.
I was about to take the first bite out of my pizza, and that’s when my grandmother called me to come to the window and see the double rainbow. Though I don’t really like rainy days, I was impressed by a rare double rainbow that was left after the rain. It even reminded me of the saying, “rainbow appears only after the rain” and lightened up my mood for the day. After I saw this beautiful double rainbow, I called my grandfather and mother to also see the double rainbow. I was exceptionally mesmerized by this view because it was my first time actually seeing a double rainbow in my life.
But why can’t we always see a double rainbow? Scientists that researched on double rainbow found out that the difference between a single rainbow and a double rainbow comes from a circumstance where “light refracts twice within water droplets that are suspended in the air” (LABMATE). And scientists argue that the condition of double light refraction within the water droplet when the water droplets are relatively larger and “has been flattened by the surrounding air” (LABMATE). And if the water droplets are exceptionally large, it can even create “tertiary or quaternary” rainbows due to the sunlight bouncing three or four times within the water droplet (LABMATE).
If you ask what happened after that day, another typhoon was ready to hit Korea. Unfortunately, the weather forecast on the television again said that a huge typhoon was approaching Korea in couple days. While I was again worried that it will damage the livelihoods and farms in Korea, I realized that my worries are not the solution for the typhoons coming towards Korea. So I just decided to look forward to seeing more rainbows!
Work Cited
Labmate, International. “The Science Behind a Double Rainbow.” Labmate Online, www.labmate-online.com/news/news-and-views/5/breaking-news/the-science-behind-a-double-rainbow/37769.
This post was very very interesting, and I found the personal connection particularly interesting, as there was also a very disastrous cyclone a few years back from where I am from. But, the part where I was really invested in reading was the double rainbow, as I have never experienced such a phenomenon. I also enjoyed reading the science behind it, as it was unique. It was good that you had a proper citation of where you got the information as well as the in-text citation.
Hey Jason :)! This was a great read. I really liked how you set up the story and provided your own personal experience. Your explanation of how our eyes see the double (or even more) rainbows was very easy and simple to follow along. An area where I could see some growth would be adding more detail. Is there an image that you could show that illustrates how the light gets reflected and refracted in the droplets? Aside from that, great work and love the photo!