Reed Timmer captured 'treat' in the sky right after a severe storm

 By Zachary Rosenthal, AccuWeather staff writer

Published Mar. 15, 2022 11:01 AM EDT | Updated Mar. 15, 2022 1:13 PM EDT

In the middle of tracking down severe storms capable of producing large hail in Texas Monday, extreme meteorologist Reed Timmer stumbled upon a much more serene — and less damaging — sight.

"Just look at this full rainbow happening; hail shaft happening right in the middle of it too," Timmer said, observing a clearly visible double rainbow while a severe thunderstorm was ongoing in the background.

Rainbows are seen when tiny droplets of water refract the sun's light and reflect it back to your eye, creating the marvelous colors, which always appear in the same order. Rainbows can be formed as the sun bounces off of rain droplets, fog, the moon, or even just the water spraying from a garden hose.

Extreme meteorologist Reed Timmer standing in front of a double rainbow outside Canton, Texas.

This rainbow stretched so far that Timmer had to move his camera from side to side to capture the whole spectacle.

Adding to the scene, anvil crawlers, or frequent lightning bolts stemming from the anvil cloud of the thunderstorm, were seen lighting up the backdrop behind Timmer and the rainbow along with dramatic mammatus clouds. He noted that despite the “fantastic view” the storms were still producing pounding hail as the line of thunderstorms blitzed eastward across Texas, well to the east of the Dallas-Fort Worth metropolitan area.

"A lot of times at the end of these storm chases when the sun is setting you get these low sun angles lighting up these storms from the back side, you always have a treat at the end of these storms," Timmer said.

Storms were forecast to bring large hail and isolated tornadoes to parts of Eastern Texas and Louisiana.

Following Monday’s storms, the National Weather Service Storm Prediction Center reported 21 incidents of large hail, with the largest stones the size of golf balls. Possible tornado damage was also reported in Leonard, Texas, according to Timmer’s Twitter feed.

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