‘Mist cannon' leaves rainbow trail floating over city avenue
A remarkable video out of China shows what appears to be a rainbow-making truck driving down a city street in the southwestern part of the country this past weekend.
But, of course, rainbow-making trucks don't exist. As it turned out, the person filming the video was just in the right spot at the right time. A fog truck, commonly known as a "mist cannon" in China, was driving down the road in Chengdu, which is the capital of the Sichuan province, spraying mist into the air above. The videographer happened to be in the right spot to see a rainbow form from the mist.
"The rainbow formed in that video is akin to one you might see from a fine mist sprayed by your garden hose," said AccuWeather Senior Weather Editor Jesse Ferrell.
 |
Mist cannon leaving a rainbow trail behind it. (Newsflare) |
Originally used at construction sites and mines, a mist cannon is a large machine mounted on a truck that sprays water mist into the air to reduce dust. But as heavy smog covers cities in China, engineers have improved the machines to remove toxic particles from the air by making the machines release tinier droplets of mist, according to a report from China Dialogue.
"The truck works by nebulizing water into tiny particles, with diameters in microns, the same as PM2.5 and PM10, and spraying them into the air, and then they could combine with the dust and fine particles to fall to the ground," Xu Yuexin, an engineer with the Beijing Capital Group Boom-sound Environment Science & Technology Company told China Daily.
Yuexin told China Daily the combination of the mist cannon and chemicals "have been determined effective in reducing the fine particles."
Many major cities in China have been using mist cannons since 2014.
For the latest weather news, check back on AccuWeather.com. Watch the AccuWeather Network on DIRECTV, Frontier, Spectrum, fuboTV, Philo, and Verizon Fios. AccuWeather Now is now available on your preferred streaming platform.
