<p>Today I saw a rainbow after almost a decade. I live in Noida (a city) in India. Most people I know believe that: <strong>we don't see rainbows nowadays because of pollution</strong> and now after nearly 3 months since the COVID lock-down, the pollution must have come down and the rainbow was visible. Is this the reason why rainbows have become so rare or is it a false belief?</p>

<p>Here is news about the rainbow I saw <a href="https://inshorts.com/m/en/amp_news/double-rainbow-spotted-in-delhincr-parts-of-haryana-after-rainfall-pics-surface-1590932520797" rel="nofollow noreferrer">here</a>(so you can see the photos)</p>

<p>According to this site <a href="https://aqicn.org/map/delhi/" rel="nofollow noreferrer">https://aqicn.org/map/delhi/</a> PM2.5 in Delhi(very close to Noida) today is <span class="math-container">$74$</span> and last year in 2019 on this day was <span class="math-container">$151$</span>. </p>

<p>If the answer is yes, how does pollution impact rainbows? </p>

CC BY-SA 4.0
2020-05-31T16:48:07.347Z
for this to be true there has to be less sunlight(it is not) or it has to be less rainfall(in some areas this is true and in others it is more rainfall).i vote to close this as opinion based.
trond hansen
CC BY-SA 4.0
2020-05-31T17:05:35.890Z
I Googled [rainbows pollution](https://www.google.com/search?q=rainbows+pollution&oq=rainbows++pollution&aqs=chrome..69i57j0l3j69i60.6474j0j7&client=ubuntu&sourceid=chrome&ie=UTF-8) and found some analysis: [Scientific Attitude on Understanding Disappearance of Rainbow](http://weather.ou.edu/~spark/AMON/v3_n2/Editorials/rainbow.html).
Keith McClary
CC BY-SA 4.0
2020-06-01T04:38:48.117Z
Is the supposed scarcity of rainbows a local phenomenon?  They don't seem to be any less common where I live (western USA), but then we don't experience a high level of air pollution.  (Except during major fires.)  But if your local air pollution is so bad that it makes the sky look like a brown haze, I could understand not seeing the rainbows due to a lot of the light being scattered.
jamesqf
CC BY-SA 4.0
2020-06-01T17:47:28.010Z
@a_donda: What I'm suggesting is that the rainbow happens where the rain is falling, but that pollution scatters the light on the way from the rain to the observer, so the rainbow isn't visible.  Basically the same reason you can see the distant mountains on a clear day, but not on a hazy one.
jamesqf
<meteorology><air-pollution><rain>
Is pollution the reason why rainbows are so rare nowadays?
Manik
# Is pollution the reason why rainbows are so rare nowadays?

(Asked by: username_0 on 2020-05-31)

Today I saw a rainbow after almost a decade. I live in Noida (a city) in India. Most people I know believe that: **we don't see rainbows nowadays because of pollution** and now after nearly 3 months since the COVID lock-down, the pollution must have come down and the rainbow was visible. Is this the reason why rainbows have become so rare or is it a false belief?

Here is news about the rainbow I saw [here](https://inshorts.com/m/en/amp_news/double-rainbow-spotted-in-delhincr-parts-of-haryana-after-rainfall-pics-surface-1590932520797)(so you can see the photos)

According to this site <https://aqicn.org/map/delhi/> PM2.5 in Delhi(very close to Noida) today is $74$ and last year in 2019 on this day was $151$.

If the answer is yes, how does pollution impact rainbows?

**Tags:** meteorology, air-pollution, rain

> **Comments:**
> **username_1**: for this to be true there has to be less sunlight(it is not) or it has to be less rainfall(in some areas this is true and in others it is more rainfall).i vote to close this as opinion based.  
> **username_2**: I Googled [rainbows pollution](https://www.google.com/search?q=rainbows+pollution&oq=rainbows++pollution&aqs=chrome..69i57j0l3j69i60.6474j0j7&client=ubuntu&sourceid=chrome&ie=UTF-8) and found some analysis: [Scientific Attitude on Understanding Disappearance of Rainbow](http://weather.ou.edu/~spark/AMON/v3_n2/Editorials/rainbow.html).  
> **username_3**: Is the supposed scarcity of rainbows a local phenomenon?  They don't seem to be any less common where I live (western USA), but then we don't experience a high level of air pollution.  (Except during major fires.)  But if your local air pollution is so bad that it makes the sky look like a brown haze, I could understand not seeing the rainbows due to a lot of the light being scattered.  
> **username_3**: @a_donda: What I'm suggesting is that the rainbow happens where the rain is falling, but that pollution scatters the light on the way from the rain to the observer, so the rainbow isn't visible.  Basically the same reason you can see the distant mountains on a clear day, but not on a hazy one.  

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## 0 answers

