Several WBTW News13 viewers sent in photos of an odd-shaped cloud formation on Friday afternoon.
The strange and rare so-called “hole punch” clouds were first spotted around Green Sea in Horry County around 4:15 pm, said viewer Jessica Elizabeth, who sent in the first 2 photos.
Just 30 minutes later, Ashley Gunn Rogers took a photo in Hartsville of three holes in the clouds.
Then, around 5 pm, News13 viewer Brian Seagle spotted the strange cloud formation during his trip from Sumter to Hartsville.
A fourth News13 viewer, Baylee Douglas, also sent in another photo of the punch hole clouds — this time over Florence Christian in Florence.
Yet another viewer, Genora Lewis sent in a photo from the Pamplico area. And, just as it was getting dark in Surfside Beach, Bonnie Brooks snapped a photo of the odd cloud and sent it to News13.
It’s unclear if it was the exact same cloud hole that drifted from the Grand Strand area over to Florence and then on to Hartsville.
But, it does have an explanation which fits the name of “hole punch clouds,” according to News13 Chief Meteorologist Frank Johnson.
“Something caused part of the layer of cirrus cloud to precipitate out of the cloud,” Frank explained.
“It was most likely an airplane that flew through the cloud, causing the cloud particles that were suspended there to form snowflakes that are heavy enough to fall from the cloud,” he added.
This isn’t the first time such clouds have been spotted in our area — a very rare heart-shaped “hole punch” was seen near Dillon in Nov. of 2014. (See photo in slideshow)
And, three such clouds were grouped together along the shoreline at Myrtle Beach almost exactly 4 years ago in Jan. 2011. (Also in slideshow above)
Back then, the theory was that military flight maneuvers caused the 3 holes so close to each other.
