{"id":239122,"date":"2026-01-18T04:28:12","date_gmt":"2026-01-18T04:28:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/239122\/"},"modified":"2026-01-18T04:28:12","modified_gmt":"2026-01-18T04:28:12","slug":"rare-rainbow-cloud-phenomenon-dazzles-nelsonians","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/239122\/","title":{"rendered":"Rare ‘rainbow cloud’ phenomenon dazzles Nelsonians"},"content":{"rendered":"

A rare meteorological phenomenon has put on a dazzling show at the top of the South Island, with Nelson residents captivated by a shimmering “rainbow cloud” this afternoon.<\/p>\n

Photos and videos taken around the region on Sunday show streaks of vibrant pinks, greens and golds glowing through thin, high level cloud.<\/p>\n

Ashleigh Allison told 1News she was so startled by the colours she initially questioned her own eyesight.<\/p>\n

“I told my husband to make sure I wasn’t seeing things and it was definitely there. So strange.”<\/p>\n

\"A<\/p>\n

A “rainbow cloud” captured over the Nelson region on January 18, 2026. (Source: Supplied)<\/p>\n

Another local, Melanie Hunter, said the sight stopped her in her tracks.<\/p>\n

“Super bright, colourful, just what I needed today.”<\/p>\n

MetService meteorologist Brayden White told 1News the rainbow cloud was caused by a phenomenon known as cloud iridescence. <\/p>\n

“This is basically when you get a rainbow in a cloud, but instead of water droplets reflecting the light, you have ice crystals in the upper atmosphere. You’ll notice in the photos it’s a wispy looking cloud, very high up and not particularly thick, that’s just entirely ice crystals.”<\/p>\n

\"A<\/p>\n

A “rainbow cloud” captured over the Nelson region on January 18, 2026. (Source: Supplied)<\/p>\n

White said the crystals happened to be lined up in the same way as a prism or a rain drop in a rainbow to refract the Sun’s light.<\/p>\n

“It’s producing these pink, red, and green clouds.”<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"A rare meteorological phenomenon has put on a dazzling show at the top of the South Island, with…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":239123,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[42,91,43,2224,40,38,41,39,3393],"class_list":["post-239122","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-headlines","tag-headlines","tag-nelson","tag-news","tag-tasman","tag-top-news","tag-top-stories","tag-topnews","tag-topstories","tag-weather-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/239122","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=239122"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/239122\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/239123"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=239122"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=239122"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=239122"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}