This seven-mile lengthy lenticular cloud often seems in the similar spot in New Zealand. A cloud that periodically seems in the very same spot in New Zealand has been captured by means of a NASA satellite tv for pc. Recognized in the neighborhood because the “Taieri Puppy”, the seven-mile lengthy cloud used to be first reported in 1896 and has gave the impression frequently above mountains in Otago, a area on New Zealand’s South Island. Locals there gave it the identify as a result of they really feel because it’s their puppy cloud that handiest seems of their space. Taieri Puppy is a lenticular cloud that paperwork within the troposphere, the bottom layer of Earth’s surroundings. It used to be noticed by means of NASA’s Landsat 8 satellite tv for pc on September 7, 2024, leading to a lovely symbol with the sausage-shaped cloud contrasted in opposition to the earthy colours of New Zealand. However locals within the space have lengthy been conscious about Taieri Puppy with John Regulation, a meteorologist at New Zealand’s MetService telling the NASA Earth Observatory that it’s “a commonplace function discovered within the skies close to Middlemarch, Otago.” 
This 1951 photograph displays Taieri Puppy from the bottom. | White Aviation Assortment Lenticular clouds are identified for his or her curved, flying saucer-like look; in reality, they’re on occasion flawed for UFOs.
They’re in most cases discovered floating over a mountain most sensible or mountain ridge as a result of when air flows over the mountain tops, it supplies sufficient cooling to achieve saturation and for a cloud to shape. Because of this air is repeatedly flowing thru it. When it comes to the Taieri Puppy, the topographical blockade is the Rock and Pillar Vary in Otago, which runs perpendicular to robust winds from the northwest. The mountains hinder the motion of air, forcing the wind to ascend and move over them, forming a wave. On the wave’s height, as humid air rises and descends, its water vapor condenses to shape clouds. The cloud stay desk bound for the reason that airflow frequently provides them with moisture. The robust winds carve the cloud which supplies it a particular, easy look. Some observers have described them as a “massive stack of pancakes” that hover in the similar spot. However that stillness is deceiving for the reason that “look of the Taieri Puppy is a brilliant indicator of sturdy winds top within the surroundings,” Regulation tells NASA Earth Observatory. “Because the cloud paperwork at the crest of this wave, it stays virtually desk bound within the sky and is formed by means of the robust winds blowing thru it,” Regulation provides. Lenticular clouds additionally pose a danger to pilots as planes can endure critical turbulence when flying thru. Symbol credit: NASA/Lauren Dauphin; USGS
