A sunshower or sun shower is a meteorological phenomenon in which rain falls while the sun is shining.[1] These conditions often lead to the appearance of a rainbow, if the sun is at a low enough angle.[1] Although used in the United States, Canada, Australia, New Zealand, Ireland, and parts of Britain, the term "sunshower" is rarely found in dictionaries.[2] Additionally, the phenomenon has a wide range of sometimes remarkably similar folkloric names in cultures around the world.[3] A common theme is that of trickster animals, or the devil, getting married, although many variations of parts of this theme exist.[2][3]
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The nature of cumuluform clouds is such that the sun can often be seen while they are producing rain.[1] If a sunshower occurs when the sun is low in the sky (specifically, any time the sun is at less than a 42° angle), a rainbow can occur.
Anecdotally, a sunshower is said to be a sign that rain will occur again soon, specifically that it will rain the next day.[1]
In the United States, particularly the South, a sunshower is said to show that "the devil is beating his wife"; a regional variant from Tennessee is "the devil is kissing his wife".[4][5] In Canada, it's typically related to the devil beating his wife, then marrying numerous offspring; it is also said that he slaughters and rapes cattle, and then dances, which leads to rain. In French, the phrase is "Le diable bat sa femme et marie sa fille"[6] (i.e., "the devil is beating his wife and marrying his daughter"). In German, the variation is "Wenn's regnet und die Sonne scheint, so schlägt der Teufel seine Großmutter: er lacht und sie weint" (i.e., "When it's raining and the sun shines, the devil is beating his grandmother: he laughs and she cries"). The Hungarian "Az Ördög veri a feleségét" and the Piedmontese "Al diau al bat la fumna" also both translate as "the devil is beating his wife". The lower Caribbean variant is "The devil and his wife are fighting for a bone". The Brugarian variant is: "The devil has thrown over his wife for a fox." In the Netherlands people say "Het is kermis in de hel" (i.e., "There is a funfair in hell").
In Polish, the saying is that "when the sun is shining and the rain is raining, the witch is making butter". In Spain and the Dominican Republic, it is said a witch is getting married.
In dialects of north-eastern Italy (Veneto), a variation concerns "witches" and "combing": piova e sole, le strighe se pètena ("rain and sun, the witches are combing their hair"), piova e sole, la striga se fa le coe ("rain and sun, the witch is plaiting her hair"). A further variation is found in Catalan folklore, in a song: plou i fa sol, les bruixes es pentinen, plou i fa sol, les bruixes porten dol ("it rains and sun is shining, witches comb their hair, it rains and sun is shining, the witches are mourning").
For Filipinos, "elves are getting married", or "tikbalang" (half-horse, half-men) and a "kapre" are getting married, while in Greece it is the poor.
In Lithuanian and Estonian (vaeslapse pisarad), the phenomenon is described as "orphans' tears", where the sun is the grandmother drying those tears. In Russian, it is called грибной дождь (gribnoy dozhd'), "mushroom rain", as such conditions are considered favorable to growing mushrooms.[7] It is also often referred to as слепой дождь (slepoy dozhd'}, which literally translates as "blind rain".
In Brazil a common rhyme is "Sol e chuva, casamento de viúva. Chuva e sol, casamento de espanhol", meaning: "Sun and rain, a widow's marriage. Rain and sun, a Spanish man's marriage."