(dailymail.co.uk)
Last hump day, Wednesday 7th October, 2009, an ominous halo was reportedly seen by millions of Moscow's inhabitants looming over the Russian capital. The sighting was said to look like “a scene from the film Independence Day” by the United Kingdom's Mail Online, but Meteorologists from all over claimed it was no more than an “optical illusion” and Moscow's very own Vesti24, who published a mobile phone video of the halo submitted by an eyewitness, released an official statement to Russia Today claiming “several air fronts have passed Moscow recently, including an inflow of cold air from Arctic, and they combined to produce such a phenomenon.”
Still in a bit of disbelief myself, I decided to do some research of my own. As amazing as this occurrence is to me, it is far from supernatural, and in fact, is some what of the norm. These clouds are call fallstreak holes or punch hole clouds. According to the Cloud Appreciation Society, these halo shaped holes appear in cirrocumulos or altocumulus clouds when the water temperature in the clouds is below freezing but the water has yet to freeze due to the lack of ice nucleation particles. When a portion of the water does finally freeze it sets off a chain reaction, due to the Bergeron process, causing the water vapor around it to freeze and fall to the earth as well. This leaves a large, often circular, hole in the cloud.
(xearththeory.com)
This explanation for fallstreak holes is still a theory (just like gravity is still a theory because scientists are far from setting up any sort of legitimate universal scientific truth) and a site I found called xearththeory.com has it's own unique explanation for such phenomenon. Exchanging Earth Theory (xearththeory.com) claims that fallstreak holes are created due to electromagnetic fields aka electricity, and are similar to the Northern Lights (aurora borealis) and lightning. They offer no direct explanation for these electric charged clouds, but from my understanding, explain that it is no different from an electric wire in a bowl of water, which visually creates a ring around the wire followed by ripples.
Whether the result of some odd freezing effect or electromagnetic fields, fallstreak holes are certainly a sight to behold. This is just another example of nature's true beauty, regardless of scientific or spiritual design. Don't forget to take time to appreciate the world we inhabit, which shouldn't be too hard at this point-in-time for those of you in a fall-changing area. Here in Michigan it is the best time to see the changing of the leaves as the Stag becomes the fallen and Lupercus is free to roam.
References:
- Wikipedia: Moscow
- Pictured: The Independence Day-shaped cloud hovering in the skies over Moscow
- “UFO halo” in the sky baffles Muscovites
- February Cloud of the Month
- How are Punch Hole Clouds (Fallstreak Holes) formed?
