"Why have I seen so many rainbows this year? What does that mean?" — Dixie

Hello Dixie! Your eyes aren’t deceiving you. A 2022 study from the University of Hawaii at Mānoa confirms your thoughts – the number of rainbows is increasing, and by 2100, sightings of rainbows are likely to increase by 5%.

Rainbows need two things to be visible: raindrops and sunlight.

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These rainbow ingredients are expected to come together more often in a warmer world. A warmer world is also a wetter world because warmer air can hold more moisture. 

These conditions are expected to come together more often at higher latitudes and higher elevations where rain is becoming more common. In some of these places, rainfall is replacing snowfall, but in others, the added moisture is making rainfall possible in places where it was less common than before. Some of the places most likely to see more rainbows include Alaska, the Tibet Plateau and northern Russia. 

The news isn’t so colorful everywhere, though. 

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Climate change studies suggest that the added heat will dry out some areas around the world, including the Mediterranean, Brazil and central Africa.