Maple Ridge resident James Brierley was on his way home from school Monday when he noticed a strange cloud formation above.
He grabbed a quick photo of the hole in the clouds and his mom posted it on Facebook.
The formal name of the cloud formation, which was added to the 2017 version of the International Cloud Atlas is a “cavum,” according to an article on The Weather Network from that year.
“This supplemental feature is caused when ice crystals are introduced into a thin cloud comprised of super-cooled water droplets, usually due to an aircraft passing through the cloud on takeoff or landing,” according to meteorologist and science writer Scott Sutherland.
“With the sudden appearance of the ice crystals, the water droplets in the vicinity all rush in – creating a clear spot in the cloud – where they freeze and grow the crystals into snowflakes, which then fall out of the sky.”
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