New World Record Set As Rainbow Lasts For 9-Hours

Yorkshire currently holds the title for the longest rainbow on record, lasting an impressive six hours. But there’s a new rainbow on the scene – and it could smash that figure into a pot of gold if confirmed by the Guinness World Record authorities.

Sorry England – Taiwan weather has sprinted up behind with what is allegedly a nine hour rainbow. It began in the morning on November 30, and stayed hanging in the sky all day, according to researchers at the Chinese Culture University in Taipei.

They were so excited that they photographed it from all angles to collect evidence that they should beat the previous record, which was set 23 years ago.

It spanned almost the entire city of Taipei. Look on this and despair, people of Sheffield:

Professor Liu Ching-hwang with the university’s Department of Atmospheric Sciences said the record-breaking rainbow appeared at around 7:15am in the morning and lasted until after 4pm Taipei time.

‘Because of the local terrain [in Shilin District] and the seasonal northeasterly winds, moisture often collects here and condenses into rain, which causes rainbows when there is sunshine,’ he said.

In fact, just three days earlier climate observers at the Chinese Culture University began recording data for another rainbow that lasted some six hours.

But before they could finish compiling reports to determine whether it had actually broken the 23-year-old Sheffield record, the much longer nine-hour rainbow appeared days later.

Pictures going viral on social media showed the long-lasting rainbow from multiple angles, with people saying they had ‘never seen a rainbow so clearly’ in their lives.

Staff at the university are now gathering the evidence to submit to Guinness and prove that they have better rainbows than us.