Cloud Iridescence

A fairly uncommon phenomenon is "Cloud Iridescence". I noticed this while watching my son-in-law, Brad, put up some Christmas lights on the roof of his house the day after Thanksgiving. The colors you see are a diffraction of the Sun's light passing through small water or ice droplets. Usually near the Sun, so I had to block the Sun with the roof top, otherwise the Sun's glare would overwhelm the effect. Brad was so intent on his chore that I don't think he was ever aware of the colorful site behind him.

Click on image for a larger view

Adjusting the image by reducing the highlights and increasing the detail in the shadows and reducing the exposure in software such as LightRoom brings out detail and color a bit better: