A rare natural phenomenon was observed in the sky over Ukraine. The clouds, which bear a strong resemblance to UFOs, are known as lenticular or lens-shaped clouds.
This amazing phenomenon was captured and shared on Facebook by mountain rescuer Vasyl Fitsak in the Ivano-Frankivsk region. According to him, the natural phenomenon was filmed in the village of Osmoloda, located in the Gorgany mountain range.
Lenticular or lens-shaped clouds form on the crests of atmospheric waves. They are most common in areas with strong winds and high mountains. Typically, lenticular clouds appear on the leeward side of mountain ranges and sometimes behind individual peaks, at altitudes ranging from 2 to 15 kilometers.
Natalia Ptukha, a meteorologist from the Ukrainian Hydrometeorological Center, commented to UNIAN that the clouds visible in Fitsak’s video do indeed resemble lenticular clouds, although they are not a classic example of this type of cloud. “There is a certain nature of a lenticular cloud present in this video,” she confirmed.
A characteristic feature of these clouds is that they remain stationary, no matter how strong the wind is, and hover in the air like UFOs. They can stay in one place for hours.
According to the meteorologist, these clouds appear completely motionless, as if frozen in time. “They stabilize in one spot and form when intense wind flows encounter an obstacle, usually a mountain range, a mountain, or a plateau,” explained Ptukha.
The expert also noted that the appearance of such clouds might indicate the approach of an atmospheric front. “Currently, we have intense airflows from northern latitudes over Ukraine, with an atmospheric front passing through. Therefore, such clouds can indeed form, but not in their classic and large-scale manifestations, as is typical for them,” said Natalia Ptukha.
The meteorologist from the Ukrainian Hydrometeorological Center emphasized that lenticular clouds are a rare phenomenon, and only a few people manage to see them. “But we’re not talking about the small ones like in the video—many might not even notice those. We’re talking about the large, classic lenticular clouds that hover over peaks, which are rarely seen here,” Ptukha noted.
Interestingly, airplane pilots try to avoid lens-shaped clouds to steer clear of turbulence. Hang gliders, on the other hand, deliberately fly toward them to catch an updraft that can lift them several kilometers.
Some believe that lenticular clouds form in places of special power, where there are changes in gravity (Earth’s magnetic field lines) and a powerful biomagnetic flow. These changes and the flow are said to twist air masses, forming these special high-altitude clouds.
