Friday's storms spawned menacing clouds, magnificent rainbows and a crazy orange sky

For a second straight night, strong to severe storms produced menacing but magnificent skies over the DC area on Friday.

Ominous shelf clouds formed along the front edge of the storms while vibrant, brilliant rainbows followed in their wake.

And then came a remarkable sunset with a deep orange glow.

Why was the sky such a deep orange? The extraordinary orange hues emerged as the rays of the setting sun intercepted the moisture-rich cloud canopy left behind by the storms.

The low-angle sunlight, stripped of most of its blue wavelengths after traveling through a long stretch of atmosphere, bathed the storm clouds in vivid orange hues while lingering raindrops generated rainbows.

Let's take a look back at how the evening's unforgettable skies evolved.

First came the shelf clouds, which form along the leading edge of a thunderstorm, often signaling the arrival of strong, gusty winds and cooler air:

Then, the rainbows:

Several skywatchers captured the rainbow as lightning flashed through the sky:

And last, but not certainly not least, an unreal sunset emerged. And, for some, rainbows lingered:

@capitalweather.bsky.social rainbow over nats park

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— Felled Man (@felledman.bsky.social) June 12, 2026 at 8:34 PM

And, to conclude, a nice series of the whole sequence: