LOUISVILLE, Ky. — A neat weather phenomenon known as a "hole punch cloud" was seen across Kentuckiana on Thursday! This cool sight can occur anywhere in the country under the right atmospheric circumstances.
The proper name for a "hole punch cloud" is a Fallstreak Hole. It literally looks like a hole was punched out of heavy cumulus cloud cover in the sky and a small clear area can be seen.
High-level altocumulus clouds can be made up of tiny water droplets that are extremely cold but are not frozen. These "supercooled" droplets can encounter ice crystals in the cloud layer and quickly freeze and grow.
Now, because they're larger and heavier, they begin to fall. A hole in the original cloud layer forms as those drops fall and the hole can grow as more surrounding drops begin to freeze!
We just wanted to give a quick shoutout to Eric Anderson in our Kentucky/Indiana Cloud Watchers Facebook group for sharing these photos with us.
