This year's National Day was marked by a heavy downpour prior to the start of the festivities on Aug. 9.

But it also allowed Singaporeans to enjoy a rare tableau of the national flag flying past a rainbow on the nation's 59th birthday after the rain abated.

The sight, which took place during the flypast segment of the National Day Parade (NDP), was shared to Facebook by sky-watcher Andy Peng.

In pictures

Peng's pictures showed one of the Chinook helicopters entrusted with carrying the state flag flying beneath a curtain of grey clouds.

A large rainbow is seen prominently in the background.

"Happy birthday Singapore," Peng wrote as well-wishes to the nation.

Other users also shared pictures of the rainbow across Singapore skies that afternoon.

One Andrew Teo wrote in his post that the rainbow appeared at around 5:20pm in Tampines, prior to the flypast.

The "Fly Our Flag” segment involved two sets of helicopters — each with a Chinook helicopter carrying the state flag and escorted by two Apache attack helicopters — taking two separate routes over the island.

The flypast took place from 5:45pm to 6:30pm on Aug. 9.

Coincidence?

Curiously, a similar phenomenon was spotted during the flypast segment of the NDP rehearsal on Aug. 3.

And at the Aug. 8 NDP preview, Singapore's Red Lions were also spotted descending amidst a backdrop of iridescent clouds.

Nice.

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Top image from Andrew Teo & Andy Peng / Facebook