‘Otherworldly' and ‘ethereal' clouds rolled across Massachusetts amid severe thunderstorms
As thunderstorms swept across Greater Boston, bringing a lightning show and brief period of heavy rain amid the brutal summer heat, many were struck with a childlike sense of wonder of the clouds, unusual in shape and color.
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Commonly known as
They come from 'areas of warm convection, or rising air, that condense into single or a small cluster of thunderstorms above our head,' said Ken Mahan, the Globe's lead meteorologist. 'The warm, moist air at the surface heats up typically during the day and then rises until it cools to a point of condensing, resulting in downpours.'
And on Thursday, the clouds appeared to become one with the sunset, imbuing them with shades of soft pink and warm orange. Rolling overhead, from the city skyline in Boston to the trees in Chelmsford, the clouds radiated like one big nightlight.
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On multiple Reddit threads, locals reveled in the shared experience as they posted photos of the scenes.
One person compared the clouds to a
lightning strikes for so long they fell behind on their classwork.
'All hail the mighty Glow Cloud,' one commenter said. 'Jay, look at these [expletive] clouds man,' quipped another,
In Cambridge, Jenna Whitney glanced out her front window and noticed that her neighbor's white house was cast in a luminous shade of pink.
She looked out her back door and marveled at the cloud, describing its color as ethereal. Whitney, 40, said the scene reminded her of the
For Samuel Spencer, 30, the combination of the exquisite sunset and cracks of lightning made for a 'once-in-a-lifetime' sight that he couldn't miss.
'I never really expected to see them both at the same time,' said Spencer, an East Boston resident who is studying data science at the Harvard Extension School.
He stood outside for hours, staring out at the water and lit-up skyscrapers in the distance as rain fell, determined to capture the perfect photo of a lightning bolt in the middle of 'one of the most beautiful views' that he said he had ever seen.
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A couple hundred photos later, Spencer emerged victorious.
No form of modern entertainment can rival such a fleeting event, he
said.
'When you get something that shows the beauty of nature and the force of nature, and it's all around you, everywhere in front of you, it's something that is incredibly remarkable and rare,' he said. 'I think it's still something that people appreciate.'
Clouds over Boston on Thursday evening.
Nate Atwater
Clouds over East Boston Thursday evening.
Samuel Spencer
Clouds over Chestnut Hill on Thursday evening.
Henriz Henry
Clouds over South Boston on Thursday evening.
Chenyang Xia
Clouds over Dedham Thursday evening.
Ryan Hynes
Clouds over Beacon Hill on Thursday evening.
Alyssa Zimmerman
Clouds over Somerville on Thursday evening.
Courtesy photo
Clouds over the South End on Thursday evening.
Joey Lopez
Clouds over East Boston on Thursday evening.
Samuel Spencer
Clouds over Chelmsford on Thursday evening.
Stephanie Long
Clouds over Cambridge on Thursday evening.
Lauren P. Burka
Clouds over Cambridge on Thursday evening.
Jenna Whitney
Shannon Larson can be reached at
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