Maldives Part 2: Tornadoes and Rainbows


Tornado, originally uploaded by Wahj.

The two things that stand out, meterologically, about this Maldives trip.

The first was a rainbow we saw after one of the afternoon dives (think it was on the 6th). We had a brief shower at 4-ish, and the sun was shining brightly, so I was scanning the sky for a rainbow. The dive instructor asked me what I was looking for, and I explained to him that a rainbow, under these conditions, was inevitable - visible sun low in the sky, and rain had to cause a rainbow I was walking away when he called after me and pointed out the rainbow that did, eventually, appear after all.

The second was this little tornado. It's hard to see it from the photograph - the handphone camera has its limits, and I've enhanced the bit of the photo where the tornado for higher contrast. In real life, the tornado was very clear indeed, hovering over one of the nearby islands. We're more used to seeing waterspouts in this region, but since the twister-bit never touched land or sea, and never drew water up, I suppose "tornado" might be a more accurate descriptor than "waterspout".

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