A giant, grayish-black “shelf cloud”, was spotted by sky-gazers in Wichita, Kansas on Thursday morning, and photos and videos of the phenomenon were shared across the net. One of the videos of the sinister skies, apparently captured from a car, was provided to Weather Nation by a local witness, leaving netizens amazed and frightened at the same time.
Holy Moly! 👀
— WeatherNation (@WeatherNation) July 16, 2020
Check out this shelf cloud on this line of thunderstorms that went through Wichita, #Kansas Thursday morning! #kswx
Video Credit: @jessicahadwin pic.twitter.com/I3kmcugUCw
“It's like Armageddon!”, one person commented on the view.
That is indeed a line. 😬
— Larice (@LariceLu) July 16, 2020
Wow
— Judy McGowan (@judyblue927) July 17, 2020
As thunderstorms struck across western Kansas, other similar images of the cloud described by some viewers as “ominous” were shared across Twitter. Netizens were particularly awed by the sharpness of lines drawn by the weather.
A MUCH BETTER image of the Wichita, Kansas Thursday morning shelf cloud. 📸Lisa Rinehart #kswx @NWSWichita @StormHour @spann pic.twitter.com/Q1XDY6LMRt
— Jake Dunne (@KWCHJake) July 16, 2020
An ominous shelf cloud moves into Wichita, Kansas this morning. #kswx #shelfcloud #gustfront #Wichita #Kansas #weather #photography pic.twitter.com/qQHBdEARrW
— Brandon Ivey (@BrandonIveyWX) July 16, 2020
The shelf cloud that came through NW Sedgwick County, KS this morning had some gorgeous lines. This was a mile south of my little shack on the prairie about 7 am.@KWCHRoss @NWSWichita #StormHour #kswx @spann pic.twitter.com/SRxox29PVm
— Lacewing Photography (@LacewingPhoto) July 16, 2020
Shelf clouds are a type of so-called arcus cloud formations which typically appear along thunderstorm outflows.
