Rainbow-coloured 'mother-of-pearl clouds' seen over Singapore: 'It was amazing'

Perhaps Mother Nature was just welcoming Pride month.

Several Stompers spotted clouds in the colours of the rainbow in the Singapore sky on May 30.

Stomper Gail was amazed to see "mother-of-pearl clouds" over Potong Pasir and shared a photo of the unusual phenomenon.

"I was driving along Bendemeer Road and Potong Pasir on 30 May at about 2pm when my colleague and I saw this patch of clouds in the sky," said the Stomper.

"It was amazing!"

Another Stomper shared a photo of the "nice rainbow sky" over the Mandarin Oriental and Pan Pacific hotels taken from the Marina Bay area at 3pm.

Stomper Nasrol shared videos of "colour clouds" taken from Stamford Road.

They were likely iridescent clouds, caused by a rainbow-like effect in the clouds when light passes through tiny ice crystals or water droplets and is diffracted.

They often appear in the late afternoon on very hot and humid days, which we have been having many of recently.

@weatherchannel Do You Know What Cloud Iridescence Is? #cloud #clouds #RainbowClouds #sky #weather #science #IridescenceCloud #news#fyp ♬ original sound - The Weather Channel

Iridescent clouds are not to be confused with fire rainbows, also known as circumhorizontal arcs, caused by light bursting through cirrus clouds at high altitudes.

A so-called fire rainbow in Singapore made news around the world in February 2017, but the Meteorological Service Singapore said it was in fact an iridescent cloud.