Mother of Pearl cloud was seen in Scotland’s sky

Posted by Jordyn Johnson on 1 February 2023

A rare ‘mother of pearl’ cloud was seen in Scotland on Sunday evening and early Monday morning.

According to BBC, these are the highest atmospheric clouds, between 19 and 30 km high. known as nacreous clouds. They form in freezing cold conditions, below -80º C, and usually over polar regions. This is the reason why they are rarely seen in the UK.

Nacreous clouds are generally seen around sunset or sunrise and, because they are so high, the sunlight reflects ‘off tiny ice crystals in the cloud,’ giving them the pearly colours, and subsequently the name ‘mother of pearl cloud.’

BBC weather watchers from Moray, the Highlands, and Aberdeenshire sent in their photos of the unique cloud to the BBC.

‘In the UK, it’s fairly rare to get to the temperatures overhead to form the ice crystals these clouds are made up of,’ meteorologist Tom Tobler told The Guardian. ‘ At the moment the polar vortex, which is usually more towards the pole, is a bit displaced towards the UK, so there is that cold air up in the stratosphere that’s allowing these clouds to form.

‘Having these clouds form at right time and in the right place, with no other clouds to impede the view of them, is what makes them so rare across the UK.’

Watch footage of Scotland’s rare sighting below:

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