The two-decade-old Guinness World Record of the longest lasting rainbow will soon be broken. A rainbow that lasted for around nine hours in Taiwan is all set to break the last record created in England's Yorkshire in 1994.
On November 30, students and professors of the Chinese Culture University in Taipei recorded a rainbow that lasted for a record-breaking eight hours and 58 minutes.
"It was amazing… It felt like a gift from the sky... It's so rare!" Chou Kun-hsuan, a professor in the university's Department of Atmospheric Sciences, said.
He recorded the spectacular phenomenon with the help of professor Liu Ching-huang, students and campus community.
"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. They're actually quite common in this area, especially in this season, but we never recorded them in the past," Chou explained, according to Express.co.uk.
The recordings and photos of the rainbow show that it lasted from 06:57 am local time to 3:55 pm. The professors and students are now collecting evidence to submit it to the Guinness World Records.
"When we broke the previous record after passing six hours, I was hardly able to stay seated for lunch. I wanted to make sure we captured the rainbow. But then it did something even more incredible; it went on to beat the previous record by another three hours," Chou said. "I was so excited."
If the evidence confirms that, the rainbow lasted for around nine hours then it will break the record of the longest-lasting rainbow in Yorkshire.
On March 14, 1994, a rainbow lasting for around six hours – from 9.00 am local time to 3.00 pm – was recorded and it entered the Guinness World Records.
