Mysterious Spherical Cloud Spotted Over The Sky In Japan (Video)

First Posted: Dec 13, 2016 02:31 AM EST

A strange spherical cloud was seen hovering over the sky in the city of Fujisawa in Japan last week. It was perfectly round and appeared near Tokyo's southern border.

@luc_eat_eis そうなんですよね。多分見やすいように修正をしたのではないかと思います。
元の画像がこれです、と3枚出していたうちの1枚がこれです。多分3枚を1枚にしてアップするのに加工ソフトを使ったのではないかと思います。紛らわしいですが（笑）。 pic.twitter.com/ByruhCvcO0

— poppy (@pmxpvrtmx) December 6, 2016

When it was photographed, it faded fast into the sky and was seen no more. The spherical cloud was photographed by a Twitter user named Poppy. She said that when she looked out of the car window, she saw a round ball-shaped cloud. She further said that she stared at the cloud for a while then she quickly took a photo. She added that when she saw the cloud, it was an even more spherical shape, so she regretted not taking the photo more quickly.

So, what is this perfect round cloud that hovers in the sky? Experts said that the cloud might belong to a "roll cloud" category. A roll cloud is a kind of arcus cloud that is a low, horizontal cloud formation. It is usually shaped by the outflows of cold air from the cold fronts in the absence of thunderstorms or through the sea breezes. There is another type of arcus cloud, namely, the shelf cloud. This cloud is associated with the leading edge of thunderstorm outflow.

Science Alert reports that this is not the first time a spherical cloud was seen in Japan. Twitter user @NicoSpqy9ba9 (Nico) captured also an image of a perfect round cloud in 2015 somewhere in Japan. This can be seen on the images below.