Did you see these interesting clouds formations in the west suburbs today?
Rita Boserup sent these photos to us from Glen Ellyn and said, “we joked that the aliens were coming.”
These clouds are actually called “fallstreaks” or sometimes referred to as “hole punch clouds”.
Here’s how they form:
A thin layer of mid to high level clouds, usually altocumulus (like today) or cirrus. These clouds are made up of tiny supercooled water droplets. “Supercooled” means the temperature is below 32° but the water is still liquid. This happens when the air doesn’t have enough dust, dirt or pollen for water droplets to cling to in order to freeze.
Then comes the actual “hole punch”. A plane flying through the layer of clouds causes a sudden expansion of air around it, which drops the temperature. That sudden drop in temperature causes the water droplets to all cling to each other, freeze as ice, and fall. It’s a domino effect known as the “Bergeron process”.
The surrounding water droplets evaporate in the sinking air, and we’re left with an elliptical “hole” in the cloud.
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