EASTLAND COUNTY, Texas (KTAB/KRBC) – A mysterious cloud formation seen over Eastland County this weekend is leaving a lot of people wondering what it is.
Residents across the County have been sending messages to BigCountryHomepage.com, showing pictures of a circular cloud formation Sunday and Monday morning.
KTAB and KRBC asked their meteorologists for answers, and even they weren’t exactly sure what it was, but here is some science behind the sunrise and possible theories on the mysterious formation:
It was a very impressive sunrise Monday morning. This can be attributed to 2 reasons.
- High pressure was over West Texas this past weekend. This stable weather pattern traps particles like dust, pollen, and jet pollution in the atmosphere. These particle help reflect long wave colors. (the reds and oranges)
- A lee trough was forming on the eastern edge of the Rocky Mountains as a high pressure over West Texas was moving east. This set-up transported upper level moisture into our area. This is why we had the beautiful display of cirrus clouds. The high level cirrus clouds do a great job at reflecting the red and orange colors.
Why is the sunrise always red and orange? It’s important to note that blue and violet light appears in the short wave spectrum, while the orange’s and red’s are long wave colors. The atmosphere is very efficient at scattering light in the short-wave spectrum. This is why the sky appears blue. The atmosphere is not efficient at scattering light in the long-wave spectrum. It takes a lot of atmosphere to scatter out the short wave blue colors and leave us with the long wave colors. When the sun is at the horizon it has to travel through a lot more atmosphere than it has to travel through during the day. All the blue light is scattered out leaving us with the reds and oranges.
Theories on the circle formation: It could be clouds at different elevations. Or maybe the clouds were thicker on the edge of the circle. Then the light shined through. Or maybe even an eddy of atmospheric particulates. This surface high was moving faster to the east than the upper level high. Maybe temperatures differences could cause an eddy to form in the upper levels. The winds aloft could have been stronger than the surface. The eddy would be the circle feature then the light could shined through the center.
However, the cloud is most likely a ‘fallstreak hole’ described by the National Weather Service below:
A fallstreak hole (also known as a “hole punch cloud”) is a large circular or elliptical gap that can appear in cirrocumulus or altocumulus clouds.
How do they form?
High to mid level clouds, such as altocumulus, are often composed of tiny water droplets that are much colder than freezing, but have yet to freeze. These “supercooled” water droplets need a “reason” to freeze, which usually comes in the form of ice crystals. Planes passing through the cloud layer can bring these ice crystals.
Once the ice crystals are introduced, the water droplet quickly freeze, grow and start to fall. A hole is left behind, which will start to expand outward as neighboring droplets start to freeze.
So even though the experts are still hashing it out – the mysterious formation was an interesting sight for anyone who happened to get a glimpse!
