Fascinating and Colorful Cloud Formation Spotted Over Southern Indiana

It's a time-honored travel game, picnic game, or backyard game. Wherever you might be when you play it, it's time-honored.

Frankly, I'm no good at playing "cloud shapes." When others see a Doberman riding a moped holding groceries, I see a pine tree covered in snow. You get the idea. But today, I will win, because the iridescent cloud that formed over southern Indiana looks just like a...

Well first, let's tap the brakes and explain an iridescent cloud. For obvious reasons, it's also known as a rainbow cloud, and if you know anything about the formation of rainbows, then you're almost there. When sunlight passes through raindrops, light splits into the colors of the visible spectrum forming a rainbow. With the correct angle, you can see it stretch across the sky. Here's an example:

Sometimes, cloud iridescence can be far more dramatic:

I wouldn't know whether to be in awe or to be stricken with terror if I saw something like that in the sky. I'm pretty sure, however, I wouldn't move.

Now let's get back to our little game of "cloud shapes." An image of an iridescent cloud over southern Indiana was sent to WFIE meteorologist Byron Douglas, and I think it looks just like a stingray:

In the comments, Barbara Foster says, "It's easy to imagine an angel wing." I agree. It certainly is. But I'm sticking with my stingray. Too bad there are no judges to iron this out, but that's not the point.

The point is that weather can give us intense, unique beauty when we least expect it. We just have to check the sky from time to time so we don't miss it.