Have you spotted a mysterious glowing cloud in Singapore sky lately? You must have wondered if it was like the Bifrost Heimdall opened for the god of thunder Thor or your scientific mind must have opposed it, and if you tried to find out you could not come up with the right word for a Google search.
For some of you who didn't notice the phenomenon, here's the background. In the last few weeks, Singaporeans have seen weird cloud formation amid the regular ones with colors that could even challenge butterflies. With its reddish gradients, it appeared as a rainbow cloud. It was first seen in the east sky on May 27, followed by June 3 and then again on June 7 — always in the afternoon.
Netizens from Clementi, Chua Chu Kang, Queenstown and Yishun posted pictures of them online. Such cloud was also seen in Malaysian sky and users posted pictures of them too.
What is it?
What appeared to be the rainbow bridge is actually called iridescent cloud. To disappoint you, it's not the Bifrost. It is a rare natural phenomenon that mostly occurs in the summer when sunlight deflects off the water droplets in the atmosphere, spreading the light on a fluffy cotton ball-shaped cumulus cloud. It mostly appears in the afternoon and follows by thunderstorms.
"What happens is that the cumulus cloud, boiling upwards pushes the air layers above it higher and higher," Cowley explained to National Geographic. "As the air gets pushed upwards, it expands and cools. And sometimes moisture in that air suddenly condenses into tiny droplets to form a cap cloud."
The cap cloud is the cause of creating such a spectacle as the water droplets scatter the sunlight according to Cowley.
Redditors Table Interesting Theories
The occurrence, however, had netizens puzzled. While some said it was the presence of God himself to rescue humans from the tough times due to Coronavirus pandemic, some called it the second coming of Singapore's founding father Lee Kuan Yew. The Bifrost reference too came out and so did the aliens and their spaceship (UFO) theories.
One Reddit user wrote: "What the heck is happening here? Are robots taking over!?" while another suggested, "Damn aliens, dumping their UFO oil in out atmosphere".
