rainbows before the rain

Okay, that title sounds a little too Disney for the reality of Africa,
but with all the rain that we have here, you get a lot of rainbows.
Here in the southern hemisphere, weather moves east to west, not west to
east, so that in the afternoon, when most of the rains come, you see the
rainbows before it rains, instead of afterwards, like in the states.
When God promised Noah that the rainbow would be a sign that he wouldn't
flood the earth again, I always appreciated it after the rain happened
at home, because it was like a wink and a nod from God, saying that same
thing again. But I'm struck that here, the rainbow is a promise, a
warning even before the rain hits, that this time won't be the big one,
and we don't have to worry. In a place where it sometimes seems that
the next cataclysm could be just around the corner, I appreciate the
reassurance. And it makes the coming rain seem not so bad (although I
still can't get my clothes dry).