The Cloud That Looked Like the End of the World
In 2006, a woman in Iowa photographed a sky that looked like a stormy sea seen from below. It turned out to be a kind of cloud no one had named.
What was reported
In 2006, a photograph taken over Cedar Rapids, Iowa showed a sky that looked like rough sea seen from underwater, with dark, rolling waves hanging overhead. People who saw such clouds often described them as apocalyptic and felt sure a storm was coming, though none did.
Similar photos poured in to the Cloud Appreciation Society, a group of amateur sky-watchers. Its founder, Gavin Pretor-Pinney, proposed that these were a new type of cloud.
Explanations offered
In 2017, the World Meteorological Organization added the cloud to its International Cloud Atlas under the name asperitas, the first new cloud feature recognised in over half a century. It forms at the base of clouds when the air beneath is disturbed by waves, often after storms, and usually doesn't bring bad weather.
- When
- Photographed in 2006; named in 2017
- Where
- Cedar Rapids, Iowa, USA
- Witnesses
- Photographers and the Cloud Appreciation Society
- Status
- Explained
Famous cases are real, widely reported events. Each file sets out what witnesses said and the explanations that have been offered, without taking a side.
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