Explained by beeppboppp at the Reddit thread:
"Such holes are formed when the water temperature in the clouds is below freezing, but the water, in a supercooled state, has not frozen yet due to the lack of ice nucleation. When ice crystals do form, a domino effect is set off due to the Bergeron process, causing the water droplets around the crystals to evaporate: this leaves a large, often circular, hole in the cloud. It is thought that the introduction of large numbers of tiny ice crystals into the cloud layer sets off this domino effect of fusion which creates the hole."
You learn something every day.
Just to clarify: the fallstreak hole is the cloud formation. The rainbow-like effect is called a circumhorizon arc, a (beautiful) member of the large ice crystal halo family.
ReplyDeleteTitle clarified. Thank you, Drabkikker.
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