Rare clouds seen over Vermont, New York last weekend

Over the weekend, we had three viewers send in local photos of some unique happenings in the sky. There has been plenty of interest surrounding these cloud formations, so let’s discuss and learn a little more about them.

The first couple photos feature what is called a ‘hole punch cloud’ and/or a ‘fall streak’. Within those high thin clouds, you usually find some supercooled droplets; droplets that register as below freezing but are not yet frozen. When you have something like a plane cut through those clouds, that disturbance causes the supercooled droplets to freeze. Once frozen, they become heavy and start to fall resulting in a gaping hole within the deck of clouds. So cool, literally!

The last photo is a variety of cloud iridescence called a ‘sun dog’. The refraction of sunlight off of the ice crystals in the clouds helps to create that thin strip of a rainbow-like color.

For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to ABC22 & FOX44.