As in Van Gogh’s “Starry Night”: I’ll explain to you why these clouds have such a fascinating shape

The morning sky of Ottawa, Canadagave its residents a surprising natural spectacle that reminded many of a very famous and beloved work of art: the Starry night by Vincent Van Gogh. In fact, last October 9th, Ann Martin shared images of one on Facebook rare cloud formation which went viral.

The clouds looked gray, rippling waves blanketing the skycreating an extraordinary visual effect, similar to swirling movement of the brushstrokes in the famous painting by Van Gogh. With the contrast between the shades of gray and the rays of light that filtered through, the scene fascinated thousands of people.

Ann Martin’s post, in which she wrote: “I felt like I was in a Van Gogh painting”, garnered over 210,000 “likes” and thousands of comments in just a few hours. Many social media users have expressed amazement at the beauty of this unusual weather phenomenon.

It’s all the “fault” of the Asperitas clouds

But what is it? What gave rise to this phenomenon? Some users have suggested, rightly, that the clouds were type Asperitasa rare formation officially recognized only recently. These clouds are known for their wavy appearancesimilar to that of sea waves during a storm, and are associated with turbulent atmospheric conditions.

Among the comments, there were those who said they were fascinated by the resemblance to Van Gogh’s works, while others expressed concern about a possible worsening of weather conditions. One user explained that these clouds are in fact often a sign of intense atmospheric turbulencealthough scientists are not yet able to explain with certainty how they are formed.

The clouds of Asperitas they were officially included in the International Cloud Atlas in 2017 and are a rather rare phenomenon. They usually appear around thunderstormscreating spectacular visual scenarios. A natural phenomenon of undeniable beauty that links nature to art and which makes our planet even more fascinating.