We often look at clouds and try to interpret the strange shapes.
We might see horses, sharks,
maybe even strange faces.
But our next sighting involves a cloud shape so bizarre
the video footage set social media ablaze.
Take a look.
[Tony]
It's a clear summer afternoon
as Nesha Higgins is traveling down the highway
in Tempe, Arizona.
But as she drives past the airport,
she catches something floating in the distance
from the corner of her eye.
So she pulls out her phone and captures this.
[Nesha]
[Tony]
A mysterious-looking dark, oblong object
appears to be stationary in front of the clouds.
Honestly, it looks a little like that 1957
Holloman Air Force Base UFO.
Author Jason Martell agrees
that something here doesn't seem right.
[Martell]
that are much more fluffy in nature.
This one seems almost out of place.
The object raises enough of a concern
to wonder what exactly it could be.
But it just, in general, looks very UFO-like.
[Tony]
It may be a possibility.
Social media sites are littered with UFO cloud sightings.
In California, Mount Shasta is frequently blanketed
by strange, oblong clouds,
which has prompted some speculation
that these clouds act as a UFO cloaking device,
hiding alien visitation in plain sight.
But others argue these strange shapes
are proof of government weather manipulation.
The phenomenon of cloud seeding
is basically using certain chemicals
that increase condensation inside the cloud.
That way, also increasing precipitation.
This combination of chemicals
has been known to cause rain clouds to form.
We know that no less than eight states across the US,
Arizona being one of them,
actually use cloud seeding to mitigate drought.
[Tony]
government weather manipulation,
or something else,
UFO clouds are having a moment.
[dramatic music plays]
For millennia, oracles looked to the heavens
and judged the significance of strange shapes in the sky.
But in this modern space age,
some are asking, could many of these strange shapes
have been UFOs all along?
Let's see if our experts can figure out if this cloud
could be more than a cloud.
[gentle, tense music plays]
[Tony] First,
could there be a spacecraft hiding in that cloud?
We asked video analyst Marc D'Antonio.
[D'Antonio]
has pretty sophisticated radars,
and right now,
there's virtually no objects that can go undetected
by airport radars.
[Tony]
shows no near-misses in the area that day,
nor were there any nearby rocket launches.
And while some argue
UFOs might well have radar cloaking technology,
D'Antonio points out the FAA isn't the only one
monitoring the skies above Tempe.
So if it's not a secret alien ship,
is it a government weather manipulation program?
[D'Antonio]
The problem with that, for me,
is that this is an extremely small localized cloud,
but a cloud-seeding operation
is a vast operation.
You're not gonna cloud seed right in this one little spot.
I don't see any way in which this could be
weather manipulation, actually.
[Tony]
could it be natural?
According to meteorologist Juan Hernandez,
the clue in the video is the surrounding Arizona terrain.
If we take a closer look down towards the ground,
we notice that there is some terrain.
So this is the Tempe area,
which is surrounded by mountains
on the north side and the eastern side.
[Tony]
or specifically the cold gusts of wind
that run up into them,
collide with the moist atmosphere,
creating lenticular clouds,
that could look a little or a lot
like hovering flying saucers.
Wind cannot flow through the mountain.
It must either flow around the mountain
or on top of the mountain.
[Tony]
of cold air, which then collides with moisture
and forms this unique saucer-shaped cloud.
But why does it appear to stay stationary,
like an ominous hovering spacecraft?
[Hernandez]
lenticular clouds oftentimes look stationary,
because that's the right condition
for the atmosphere to condensate.
[Tony]
are created by unmoving terrain.
So these clouds tend to form and dissipate
in those perfect, stationary spots.
And they oftentimes look fairly ominous.
So I can see why someone would mistake this
for a UFO.
Our verdict? Lenticular cloud.
We agree with Juan Hernandez that this
is an extraordinary-looking natural phenomenon.
But if you happen to have your camera and get footage
of a massive UFO drifting over your town,
be sure to send it our way.