Residents in north Tāmaki Makaurau/Auckland were surprised to see a "strange" cloud formation in the sky on Thursday.
Sarah, who was walking along Snells Beach this morning, told Newshub she spotted the "amazing cloud formation" directly above a boat out at sea.
While, Gage told Newshub he noticed the "strange cloud" while walking around outside.
Meteorologist Clare O'Connor from Te Ratonga Tirorangi/MetService said they're known as fallstreak holes or hole-punch clouds.
"These are triggered when an aircraft passes through a layer of higher-level clouds," she told Newshub.
"These clouds are made up of water droplets that are below 0°C but are not frozen (known as 'supercooled water')."
O'Connor said as aircrafts pass through the cloud, it disrupts the droplets, causing them to freeze and then form raindrops - then fall from the sky, creating a "very cool" cloud.
"This is what gives the appearance of a wispy cloud falling out of the cloud layer."
Philip Duncan of WeatherWatch agreed, telling Newshub they're caused by supercooled water in the clouds either evaporating or freezing.
He said they normally appear as circular gaps in cirrocumulus or altocumulus clouds.
It's likely "the fairly humid weather coupled with calm conditions helped produce it", he added.
