15 STRANGE CLOUDS seen around the world

We've all seen clouds that look like things we recognize, but you're not going to believe how strange the clouds are in today's video. Let's take a look at 15 Strange Clouds Seen Around the World. 15. Human Face One of the creepiest things you can ever see in a cloud is what appears to be the shape of a human face. And in 2016, some incredible footage was recorded of one floating across the countryside. As the rolling storm clouds move towards the sunlight, the distinct facial features are lit up, and the nose, eyes, mouth, and even an ear are clear to see. Seeing such a recognizable shape in a cloud is a phenomenon called pareidolia, which is a term psychologists use to describe how the brain interprets vaguely familiar shapes and perceives them as clearly defined and recognizable ones. In this case, though, there's no doubt at all that the cloud looked like a person and led to a number of people thinking there was something spiritual about it. Perhaps the spirit of a recently passed person or a higher being was traveling through the sky. 14. Demon Cordon Colle is a volcano in the Andes mountain range in southern Chile and is one of four that are responsible for the development of most of the new geographical features in the surrounding region over the past few hundred thousand years. For the second half of the 20th century, it was quiet with very little activity, but in 2011 a new eruption began that resulted in the evacuation of thousands of people from nearby villages. Some photographers took the time to take images of the emerging dust clouds, though, and one of the most striking pictures appears to show a demon's head rising above the mountain. The gaps in the formation allowed bright sunlight to shine through, which looks like deathly eyes, and it's no wonder that people who saw this that morning took it to be a sign that they needed to get out of town as soon as possible. 13. Portland Chicken Quite often you might point out a shape to someone in the clouds and tell them what you see, but they're unable to see the same as you. This is normally because you're both looking at it from a slightly different angle to one another, which means that they're actually seeing something quite different. Sometimes, however, a cloud will take on such a clear shape that there's no denying what it is, such as this chicken that was seen in Portland, Oregon. Poultry-shaped clouds are surprisingly common since they only require several slumps to arrange together in the right way. It begs the question, though, what came first, the chicken or the cloud? 12. The Houston Angel In 2018, Danny Ferraro from Houston, Texas, was driving along a section of Highway 105 when he looked up to see something unbelievable. The clouds had formed together in a recognizable fashion, and when the sun was hidden behind it, it made it all look just like an angel in the heavens. He shared the image, and it instantly caught the attention and imagination of others, with some even suggesting it was proof that his guardian angel was watching down on him. Now known as the Houston Angel, this was clearly a fluke in the way that the sun was interacting with the clouds at just the moment he looked up, but with such an undeniable shape, you have to wonder if there's something more going on here than initially seems. 11. Castle in the Sky With so many mountain ranges and vast terrains over which clouds can form, it's no surprise that China has far more than its fair share of unusual sky formations, but this one is leagues beyond the others. It looked as if there was a castle sat above the clouds because of the interaction between their formation and the shadows that were being cast over them, and at first you might think this was some elaborate forgery. It's actually, though, a type of optical illusion called a fata morgana, which occurs when there's a well-defined area of warm air on top of a layer of much cooler air. This causes light to refract in an unusual way and can result in the appearance of images that are stacked on top of each other like this. The clouds haven't actually formed a castle, but from a distance, what you're seeing is the outline of a city appearing much higher in the sky than it truly is. 10. Feather When the air is very still, certain types of cirrus clouds can begin to look just like a feather. On a clear day, if you see an image of one, it might even become difficult to be able to tell whether you're looking at a cloud that's far away in the sky or a feather that's much closer to the camera. The reason why this happens is due to the peculiar way the ice crystals are formed within the structures, which in this case are hexagonal shaped. When there's only a slight breeze, they form wisps, just like you get with feathers, and they're almost unbelievable when you see them in real life. Even more amazing is that they only usually form at altitudes of 20,000 feet or above, so in reality, they have to be gigantic for us to be able to see them so clearly from the ground. 9. Panama City Clouds have long been known to be affected by the changing altitude of the terrain they're passing over, but with the development of human structures that reach into the skies, entirely new phenomena are becoming more common. In 2012, an image went viral that was taken by a helicopter as he was flying over Panama City in Florida, and as you can see, there appears to be waves of clouds flowing over the buildings towards each other. Surprisingly though, they're moving in the opposite direction, and are the result of a process called orographic lifting. The moist air that's been blown over the ocean is forced to immediately rise thanks to the location of the buildings, which means it cools quickly, the humidity rises to around 100%, and clouds form. The temperature and humidity needs to be perfect for this to occur, and it actually happens several times a year. It can be so thick that it's almost impossible to see the high rises, and most definitely isn't a good day to visit the beach. Before we move on, be sure to subscribe to Top5s with notifications on. 8. Mammatus Clouds A mammatus cloud, which literally means a mammary cloud, is a strange formation that sees pouch-like structures hanging beneath the main cloud cover, and can look like a series of udders. They've been seen all around the world, and usually form over land at high altitude, or when there's been a thunderstorm. It happened because of small pockets of cool air that fall beneath the clouds they hang from. When the sunlight hits them at the right angle, they can be astonishing to see, and you could hardly believe that each globule is typically a third of a mile long, and up to two miles wide. They usually only last for 10 minutes or so before dissipating, and rejoining the host cloud. New ones can continually form in the correct conditions for up to a few hours. If you ever see one of these, it's best to prepare to bunker down indoors, because throughout history they've always been regarded as harbingers of a much more severe weather system that's approaching. 7. A Wormhole Have you ever looked up into the sky and seen what looked like a portal or a wormhole that could lead to another world, or even a different dimension? Known as fall streak holes, they've also been mistaken for secret scientific experiments, or experimental aircraft. But despite their strange appearance, we know precisely how they form. It's the result of quick formation of ice crystals due to the presence of supercooled water in the air, but they tend to either fall to the ground or evaporate, which leaves a strange hole in the cloud. It looks just like something has flown into it or opened up, and sometimes rainbows or other atmospheric effects can occur within them. This gives the illusion that you're looking through into a different reality, and have long been associated with the work of gods or unknown entities. 6. Stairway to Heaven In 2016, a resident from the town of Accrington, Lancashire in the UK had just dropped her daughter off at school during a storm, when she looked up to the sky and saw something she couldn't believe. She often takes pictures of cloud formations, but on this occasion, something very strange had coalesced in front of her, which looked just like a ladder leading up to heaven. There's a clear shadow that's being projected down because of the higher up clouds, and the way that they're blocking the sunlight, but two other perfectly positioned clouds fill in the shadow to give the appearance that there are steps. A beam of light on either side completes the illusion, in what's one of the most spiritual cloud images you'll ever see. To make things even more mystical, there's actually a church behind the buildings in the distance, which is virtually directly underneath where the ladder seems to be rising up from. Is this actually a holy event, or is it just pure coincidence? Number 5. Fluctus Clouds A Kelvin-Helmholtz instability is a phenomenon in fluid dynamics that sees the formation of ocean wave-like structures on top of a liquid. It happens when the wind blows strongly over the surface of water, and in the right conditions, can happen on the top surface of a cloud. When this occurs, it's referred to as a fluctus cloud. They can form anywhere, and are even seen in On Earth, it can occur on any one of the five main cloud types, particularly on cirrus clouds, and form a very distinctive curled wave-type shape. It happens when the wind is traveling at a much faster speed higher up than it is lower down, and creates an instability within the cloud structure. They're much more common on windy or stormy days, and may only last a few minutes before they dissipate. Due to their strange appearance, they are on the wish list of every cloud spotter, and can be so impressive that they've led to the development of countless works of art over the years. Van Gogh's Starry Night Oil on Canvas, for example, is thought to have been inspired by a fluctus cloud, and if you ever see one, you can't help but stand back and admire the view. Number 4. Dragon In 2015, amateur photographer Nicholas Locatelli was visiting Brion's Regional Park in California when he spotted a dark storm cloud beginning to form in the skies above him. He did what any photographer would do and began to take pictures of it, but it was only when he was looking through them the next day at home when he realized quite what he had managed to capture. To his astonishment, one of the images looked just like a dragon with fire breathing out of its mouth, and the definition of the shape was amazing. It had a huge snout, dark eyes, and had an angry aura about it. As the image was captured in the evening as the sun was setting, the light creates a fire-colored hue behind it that draws focus to the mouth and the flames, and makes it seem all the more real. Unsurprisingly, the image was an instant hit once it was shared online, and unlike other images of clouds, there seems to be no debate about what people see. According to Locatelli, he was very lucky with the timing because the clouds were moving fast, and if he had snapped just a few seconds later, there's no chance that the dragon would have appeared. In an added twist, he captured the photograph just a few days before St. George's Day, which is a holiday celebrated around the world for the patron saint who is said in legend to have slain countless dragons during his lifetime. 3. Elephant When Margaret Worrell took her dogs out for a walk in Scotland in 2013, the last thing she expected to see was an animal more commonly seen in the African savannah. She was ambling along the banks of the River Forth and had been taking photographs of butterflies and other insects that were flourishing at that time of year. She looked out across the river and up into the sky, and almost instantly spotted a cloud that had taken on the unmistakable shape of an elephant that looked as if it was trampling through the undergrowth. At first, she thought she was looking at Dumbo from the famous Disney movie, and then grabbed her camera to take a picture so she would have proof of what she had seen. To her amazement, the elephant cloud was even clearer on the photograph, and you could easily make out its stumpy body, the trunk, its head, and large ears. According to experts, this was a type of cumulus cloud, which are known for creating fluffy formations with clearly defined edges, and are usually at heights of no more than 6,500 feet. She said that she sat there watching it for several minutes as it slowly drifted across the sky, and just for a split second she turned down to check on her dog when she looked back up and it had completely gone. 2. UFOs Countless people around the world have claimed to have seen UFOs in the sky, but is it possible that most of these sightings could have actually just simply been a cloud? You'd have thought that most would know the difference, but there is one type of cloud called a lenticular that can take on a particularly strange shape. In 2015, social media was abuzz in Cape Town, South Africa, with images of a series of cloud formations by Table Mountain. They were peculiarly spherical, and there were at least five of them, and it's easy to see why so many people at first feared these were alien visitors hovering above the city. They form when warm and moist air blows across uneven terrains, such as mountains and valleys, and this can make it cool down and cause the moisture to condense into clouds. Because of the way the wind is circling, the saucer-shaped clouds take their shape, and they always occur perpendicular to the direction of the airflow. Due to the unique geography of Cape Town, with Table Mountain to one side and the weather systems that pass across from nearby arid regions, lenticular clouds like these are actually quite common. Due to the height at which they form, they're technically known as Stratocumulus Landing Lenticularis, with the Latin name translating to mean lens-like. These structures are also notoriously turbulent, so pilots of powered aircraft do their best to avoid them whenever they can. Those in gliders, however, see them as one of the most enjoyable flying experience, because the rising air within them lifts them up to much higher altitudes. Current world records for distance and altitude in a glider were set thanks to the lift obtained while flying through one of these types of cloud formations. It's thought to be more than likely that the vast majority of UFO sightings worldwide have actually been clouds like these, because when they form in places that don't often see them, they can be completely unexpected. Imagine it yourself, what would you think if you saw one of these above you? It looks almost exactly like the opening scene from Independence Day, and at night, look even more mysterious. 1. Skull Mount Vesuvius in Italy is one of the most famous volcanoes in the world thanks to an eruption in 79 AD that destroyed the nearby towns of Pompeii, Herculaneum, and a number of others. It's therefore taken on a mystical meaning to people who live in the area, especially those who see it every day, and there's always the sense that what happened before could possibly happen again. In 2018, residents saw an ominous sight, which some felt to be a sign that the volcano was reawakening when they saw a cloud of smoke billowing above the mountain. While their initial fears of an eruption turned out to be false, and the smoke was actually the result of rampaging wildfires, the resulting cloud took on a frightening shape that looks as if it's coming straight out of a horror movie. You can quite clearly see the image of an evil face or a skull with pronounced eye sockets, a nose, and mouth. Some online commenters pointed out how similar it was to when Voldemort's face appeared in the sky in the Harry Potter movies, and it's hard to disagree. This of course is just another visual illusion where the cloud's features just so happen to be like those of a face, so our brains fill in the missing gaps. But either way, it would certainly have made you take pause for a thought if you had been in the area and seen it forming above a volcano that's been responsible for so much death and destruction. Subscribe to Top5s for more and check out some of our other popular videos.