On July 7, 2014, the sky over the capital city did something incredibly strange and beautiful. Looking up, all you could see was a dark cover of cloud sparkling with up-high lightning. With the naked eye, it was unusual and a bit intimidating. Sped up with time lapse video, it is positively bewitching.

The footage, shot by Alex Schueth, is a perfect look at how the unusual clouds make their way across the sky just like ocean waves.

flickr/jim simonson
The clouds were moving in a formation called Asperitas (formerly known as Undulatus asperatus), which has recently been studied as a possible new type of cloud altogether. Asperitas clouds are thought to form when mammatus clouds are manipulated by powerful winds. (The above photo is illustrative of the cloud formation; it was not taken in Nebraska.)

Thanks to Alex Schueth’s video and the photographs of other weather lovers, the Cloud Appreciation Society has begun campaigning for Asperitas to be named a whole new type of cloud. If the campaign is successful, it will be the first new officially recognized cloud type since 1951.

Next time you look up and see a sky that looks like a stormy ocean, snap a few pictures and share them with us on our Facebook page.

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