High double rainbow over Charleston: February 17, 2008

CHARLESTON, WV - I've witnessed better rainbows on the Great Plains, but this one on Sunday evening ranks in the top five of ones I've seen in Charleston. I went to church early this evening and went inside for a few minutes. When I walked back out into the lobby, everyone was outside gasping and pointing at the sky. With about 15 minutes to spare before the evening service started, I got in the car and drove the two miles to Fort Hill, expecting this notoriously transient phenomenon to either fade or disappear altogether by the time I got there. To my amazement, it remained steady-state when I got to the overlook, and stayed strongly luminous until after I was able to fire off about 30 frames on the digital camera.

Nothing less than a fisheye lens would have been able to capture the entire scene, so in addition to getting several angles, I shot two series of panoramic composites in an attempt to get everything in frame. The rainbow is, has been, and always will be a symbol of God's promises to man, and this event was no exception. Click the following images to enlarge:

Panoramas: