‘Hole-punch' in the sky: Clouds created by airplanes

Hole punch clouds in Alabama in 2003 (NWS-Mobile) and Mississippi in 2007 (AccuWeather/JWesley).

Residents of New York and Vermont reported seeing a strange cloud in the sky on Monday, June 3, 2024. The photos showed a "hole-punch cloud" or "fallstreak hole," topped off with the sun, which made the formation resemble a UFO.

These clouds are unusual but not rare, and scientists believe they happen when a plane travels through a thin layer of clouds. Clouds from 6,500 to 20,000 feet above the ground contain supercooled water droplets, which can turn into ice crystals and fall from the cloud when a plane passes through the cloud, causing air to rise and cool.

A satellite image showing hole-punch clouds in the southeast U.S. on Jan. 29, 2007. (NOAA/SSEC)

Multiple planes flying through the same layer of clouds can cause an outbreak of hole-punch clouds, and they can be so large that they can be spotted by weather satellites in space.

Although they require specific meteorological conditions, hole-punch clouds can occur anywhere planes fly. Most recently they were sighted in central New York on May 31, over New Zealand on March 17, over South Florida on Jan. 30, and in Massachusetts on Jan. 23, 2024.

A hole-punch cloud at AccuWeather headquarters on Oct 22, 2009. (AccuWeather/Jesse Ferrell)