From Nasa’s Terra satellite, an image of fallstreak holes in clouds over the southern United States

High above the clouds. What happened to these clouds?

Today is World Meteorological Day, so we’re high up in the atmosphere, above the clouds, for a satellite view of fallstreak holes – gaps in the clouds that are also known as hole-punch clouds. The holes form when supercooled water droplets suddenly freeze – often when a plane flies through the cloud – and then fall, leaving an opening in the formation. Scientists are still gaining new insights on how fallstreak holes form and behave.