It looked like the sky had ripped open. A perfect glowing circle burned through the clouds, and thousands swore it was a portal, a sign, or something the government wasn’t explaining. The image raced across social feeds, stirring awe, fear, and wild theories. But behind the drama lies a quiet, elegant piece of atmospheri…
What people saw was almost certainly a fallstreak hole, a rare but well-understood cloud formation that appears when supercooled water droplets suddenly freeze and vanish, leaving a clean gap in the sky. Mid-level clouds can hold liquid water even below freezing; once ice crystals form, nearby droplets evaporate, carving out that eerie circular opening and letting sunlight pour through like a spotlight.
