October 25th: Spectacular Rainbow, New Forest

Heavy showers and isolated thunderstorms were occurring during the afternoon of the 25th, but I was unable to get out until after work. Having a 30 minute drive to a good vantage point meant I missed most of the thundery activity, but I did see one flash of cloud-to-cloud lightning near to Cadnam. Visibility was poor though, as I was to the east of the storm and sunset was only 20 minutes away, so i decided to carry on driving to position myself for any spectacular cloudscapes lit by the sunset. Not long after I arrived at my spot, a rainbow began to form:

It quickly became a complete bow, with a faint secondary bow on the outer edge. It was becoming one of the best rainbows I'd ever seen; a combination of perfect timing and perfect conditions (clear air, setting Sun, large raindrops and a good view to the ENE):

It started to get exceptionally bright on the lower edges:

The secondary bow had now developed all the way around the main one, and the storm behind created a dramatic backdrop:

A few light showers developed behind the storm as the Sun went down:

The sunset was pretty colourful as the showers cleared:

Finally, the storm that produced the the rainbow could be seen, including the anvil, as it moved away east, still with the remnants of the rainbow visible to the left: