A Canterbury woman had an unusual drive to work when she looked out the window and saw "tentacle-like pieces" hanging down from a pitch-black cloud in a scene that looks like it could have been straight from an apocalyptic sci-fi film.
Suzanne Wilkinson told Newshub the cloud formation she spotted between Glenavy and Waimate in the early hours of Thursday morning was very ominous looking.
"We had this beautiful sunrise happening and there was this very dark almost pitch-black cloud hanging there with all these tentacle-like pieces hanging down."
Newshub sent Wilkinson's photos of the surreal clouds to MetService meteorologist Lewis Ferris to ask what the formation is.
"It appears to be Pannus cloud. It's [a] type of 'skud' cloud which generally forms under a precipitating (rainy) cloud."
Wilkinson said she had to stop while driving on the east coast of the South Island to capture the pannus cloud.
Ferris told Newshub skud clouds are not rare but appreciated the "incredible" image.
"In Wellington, we generally see this type of cloud form around the hills after the passage of a cold front."
