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Manitoba family gets highway light show with iridescent cloud spotting

Iridescent clouds spotted on a Manitoba highway Wednesday. Kienan Roche and Tanya Jonasson / Submitted

A Manitoba family encountered something unusual in the sky Wednesday afternoon, and made the quick decision to snap a photo.

Tanya Jonasson told Global News she was headed south on the #7 Highway between Komarno and Teulon, Man., when she and son Kienan Roche spotted something she described as looking like “the colours were rolling and floating in the clouds.”

READ MORE: In Pictures: Storms to the east, Mammatus clouds to the west

According to Environment and Climate Change Canada, the rainbow of colours the duo caught a glimpse of was an iridescent cloud — a colourful optical diffraction phenomenon.

Iridescence happens when similar-sized droplets or ice crystals individually scatter light, which is likely what Jonasson and Roche encountered in the Interlake Wednesday.

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Click to play video: 'Flashes in the sky over Winnipeg'
Flashes in the sky over Winnipeg

 

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