A fascinating and quite rare natural spectacle presented itself to residents of the Jawa Timur province in the east of the Indonesian island of Java on Tuesday. Suddenly, a strange hole opened up in the cloud cover with a white cloud band in the center (see video above).
Falling ice crystals are likely responsible for the relatively rare weather phenomenon known as hole-punch cloud or fallstreak hole, which remains little studied. These come either from a higher cloud or from contrails created by water vapor emitted by aircraft engines.
Ice crystals responsible for holes in the air
It is believed that the falling ice crystals absorb water vapor from the clouds as the atmospheric moisture binds to the ice. In this way, where this phenomenon occurs, oval or almost circular holes often form in the cloud layer – a so-called hole-punch cloud (the English word hole punch stands for hole or hole, note).
Due to the extra water absorption, the ice crystals become heavier and fall towards the earth faster. If this process continues long enough, a funnel-shaped structure sometimes forms at the bottom of the perforation cloud. However, the snow does not reach the earth because it is heated in deeper layers of air and immediately melts again or sublimates into water vapor.
The appearance disappears quite quickly
If you want to photograph such cloud holes, now known as ‘Cavum’ in the International Cloud Atlas, you’ll need to quickly get out your camera or cell phone. Because this weather phenomenon is one that, according to meteorologists, usually disappears after a few minutes.
Due to their elliptical appearance, fall streak holes are sometimes confused with UFOs.
Source: Krone
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