Some Florida residents might have noticed large, circular holes in the sky over the state.
Don’t be alarmed, though; you’re not about to be abducted by aliens.
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Earlier this year, NASA shared information about a weather phenomenon called “cavum,” also known as “hole-punch clouds” or “fallstreak holes.”
These appear as feathery wisps inside a large, empty circle in the sky, looking as though they were “cut neatly” from the clouds around them, NASA researchers explain.
Photographs show that these have been seen in the skies over Central Florida, as well.
Because of their circular shapes and odd placement in the skies around them, cavum have often been mistaken for flying saucers or other types of UFOs, NASA experts say.
Researchers had discussed the strange phenomenon for decades, though it wasn’t until 2010 that scientists were able to provide a definitive answer.
According to NASA, mid-level clouds are made up of water droplets that are supercooled — meaning the droplets remain liquid even when temperatures are below freezing. This usually happens when droplets lack particles like dust or pollen.
When aircraft move through these clouds, the air moving around their wings causes the water to cool even further, pushing the surrounding droplets to turn into ice crystals.
As the droplets freeze, they become heavy enough to fall from the sky, leaving a large hole in the clouds.
The falling ice crystals can usually be seen in the center of these holes as wispy trails that never touch the ground, called “virga.”
Other factors that can affect the length of these clouds is the thickness of the cloud layer, air temperature, and degree of horizontal wind shear.
If planes pass through these clouds at an especially sharp angle, they can produce long “canal clouds,” which have lengthy virga trails, NASA reports.
News 6 Chief Meteorologist Tom Sorrells weighed in to give his take on the topic.
I’ve been doing the weather on TV since 1986! In all my years, I have never witnessed the “Hole Punch Clouds.” But I have seen lots of pictures.
For the longest time, I could not really come up with a proper answer when I would get questions about them. I almost always thought the pictures had been “doctored” or “photoshopped.” I was blown away when the articles from the AMS started to appear and explain what had been going on. I will continue to look to the sky in the hope of seeing this for myself in my lifetime.
News 6 Chief Meteorologist Tom Sorrells
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