Genesis9:14

The flood created the conditions that would cause large amounts of evaporation and precipitation, especially at the poles. However, it appears from Genesis 8:2 that God stopped the water from coming up from below the ground and down from the sky. 8:3 talks about how the waters kept on receding; this gives the impression that, after the initial 40 days and nights of heavy rain, it did not rain again until sometime after Noah and his family were off the ark. It also appears that the statements in Gen 9:11-16 are intended to make a few things clear before rains started falling on the earth again. In my opinion, God held back further rain while Noah was still on the ark in order to demonstrate His mercy and grace. However, after the food waters had receded, He allowed storms to happen in order to remind mankind of His holy standard and of the consequences of violating it.

Therefore, I believe that a pleasant rain fell just hours after God spoke to Noah as recorded in Genesis 9:11-16. Clouds gathered and it was obvious that rain was coming, but Noah did not fear another major flood because God had promised not to do that again. Right after that rain, the sun came out and a rainbow appeared. This rainbow was not in the sky when Noah came out of the ark; it appeared after Noah had sacrificed animals, after God had spoken to Noah, after a few hours of clouds gathering in the sky, after a rain shower, and after the sun came out.

When Noah first heard the words about a bow appearing in the sky, he probably envisioned a bow used to shoot arrows for hunting or in battle (the Hebrew simply says “a bow” without describing it or saying what kind of bow it would be). He struggled to understand why God would make something like a hunting bow appear in the sky. But when he saw the first rainbow, it took his breath away. He laughed and cried at the same time. It was reassuring to know that rains would come, but another world-destroying flood would not come.

However, not all the rains to fall would be pleasant ones. An Answers in Genesis magazine and articles on their website explain that there would have been many harsh aftermath events, or repercussions, that followed the world-wide flood. These would include volcanoes that were worse than the ones we see today, hurricanes called hypercanes because they covered continents and lasted for several weeks at a time, regional floods, tons of rain in warm and moderate climates, and tons of snow at the poles. All these should have served as reminders to the people that they should not reject God the way their ancestors before the flood had done.