Lightning, rainbow appear to collide in breathtaking Ohio video

CINCINNATI, Ohio (WCMH) — A recent storm produced a fascinating scene that a Cincinnati-area man happened to catch while recording the Ohio sky.

The man, Kevin Dinan, posted the 6-second clip on social media with the interesting effect of lightning and a rainbow together, captioning it, “Rainbow lightning in Union Township, Ohio.”

NBC4’s Chief Meteorologist, Dave Maza took a look at the video to help explain the rare event.

“This is a very cool capture here,” Mazza said. “While both have to do with rain and/or storm clouds, the challenge of seeing them together is really about a few things coming together at once.”

Dinan’s share on the X platform was on June 18, a severe weather day when strong winds tore down trees and disrupted the power supply to tens of thousands of homes in and around Cincinnati. Mazza said the atmospheric conditions worked together to create the unusual vision.

“You need to have rain falling, sunlight shining, and a lightning-producing thunderstorm,” Mazza said. “While the three are fairly common alone, together they become a bit more of a challenge. On top of that, to see the rainbow, the rain, sun, and your viewing angle must line up correctly, with the lightning then in that equation as well.”