Today's Image

Hole-punch clouds over SoCal

Posted by
Deborah Byrd
and
January 25, 2017
Hole-punch cloud seen over Santa Ana, California via EarthSky Facebook friend Gloria Sanchez.

Southern California residents were treated to the sight of strange-looking hole-punch clouds on Saturday, January 21, 2017. Apparently, conditions were right for the holes – which are made by jets – to form. Many caught sight of them and shared their photos with EarthSky Facebook and on Twitter. Hole-punch clouds, also called fallstreak holes, are made via a collaboration between humans and nature. Conditions have to be right within an altocumulus or cirrocumulus cloud layer, in order for the clouds to form.

Then, literally, a jet has to punch through the cloud layer!

Read more about how hole-punch clouds form.

EarthSky Facebook friend Mike Blecher in Marina del Rey told EarthSky: “There was some unsettled weather coming in from the Pacific, and a high cloud cover had this ‘hole’ in it.”

By the way, after a prolonged drought, California is finally getting some rain. No wonder residents were surprised for the sight of the hole-punch clouds, even though they aren’t particularly rare. However, the clouds that make them – although not really rainclouds – can come before a rain. Those who live in California haven’t had much chance in the past few years to see the hole-punch cloud phenomenon.

Bottom line: Southern California residents captured many images of hole-punch clouds on Saturday, January 21, 2017. These clouds are made by jets.

Posted 
January 25, 2017
 in 
Today's Image

Deborah Byrd

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About the Author:
Deborah Byrd created the EarthSky radio series in 1991 and founded EarthSky.org in 1994. Prior to that, she had worked for the University of Texas McDonald Observatory since 1976, and created and produced their Star Date radio series. Today, she serves as Editor-in-Chief of this website. She has won a galaxy of awards from the broadcasting and science communities, including having an asteroid named 3505 Byrd in her honor. In 2020, she won the Education Prize from the American Astronomical Society, the largest organization of professional astronomers in North America. A science communicator and educator since 1976, Byrd believes in science as a force for good in the world and a vital tool for the 21st century. "Being an EarthSky editor is like hosting a big global party for cool nature-lovers," she says.

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