Pictures as double rainbow lights up the eastern sky after summer sunshine

A spectacular double rainbow lit up skies across the east of the Isle of Man as summer finally began to give way to more unsettled weather.

The colourful display appeared shortly after 6pm on Friday, September 4, with the main spectacle visible over Douglas and across parts of the eastern side of the island.

Manx Independent readers were quick to capture the moment, sending in a series of stunning photographs showing the two rainbows stretching across the evening sky.

The sight came after a summer which really seemed to outdo itself, with plenty of sunshine and warm temperatures seeing islanders make the most of trips to the beach and weather regularly reaching the mid to late 20s.

But as September arrives, the weather naturally appears to be changing, with more frequent spells of rain beginning to creep into the forecast.

In fact, it was towards the end of the Classic TT that the first real signs of rain arrived after what had felt like weeks of largely settled conditions.

The wet weather forced organisers to rearrange the event schedule and bring some races forward, although few people on the island will have been complaining about the weather that had preceded it.

Now, with autumn approaching, it remains to be seen whether the sunshine will return or whether September's wetter conditions mark the start of a more unsettled spell.

But as these photographs show, even a passing shower can produce something spectacular.

A rainbow forms when sunlight interacts with raindrops in the atmosphere.

Sunlight may appear white, but it is actually made up of a spectrum of colours. When sunlight enters a raindrop, the different colours are bent by different amounts through a process called refraction.

The light then reflects off the inside of the raindrop before emerging and reaching our eyes, producing the familiar arc of colours.

A double rainbow occurs when the light reflects twice inside the raindrop. The second rainbow is usually fainter and its colours appear in the opposite order.