TikTok Video Of Strange Cloud Resembling Flying Saucer Go Viral

Tempe, Arizona -- A flying saucer-shaped cloud that was sighted in the sky in Arizona has left TikTok users speculating if it was an extraterrestrial object.

The video of the cloud was shot out of a moving car along Tempe's Priest Drive, and was posted on TikTok three days ago by a user named "neshahiggins."

"What is that?" someone in the car can be heard asking, zooming in on the oval-shaped cloud.

The 11-second TikTok video of an unusual, dark, gray gash in the sky that struck a stark contrast with the puffy white cloud rising up behind it has gone viral, with over three million views.

Some viewers compared it to Jordan Peele's latest movie, "Nope," while others brainstormed to figure out what the strange cloud actually was, the Sacramento Bee reported.

Many TikTok users were quick to conclude it was something from another world. “That, my friend is a mothership," said one user. Many TikTok users also posted similar pictures of disc-shaped clouds spotted in their regions.

Another user, who claimed to be a weather fanatic, tweeted, “This is known as a 'lenticular cloud’! They form when a moving, high-up layer of moist air is suddenly lifted and then descended again. This forms a nearly motionless flat cloud, which looks much like a UFO.”

The mysterious cloud has prompted wishful thinking, but an Arizona meteorologist offered an earthly explanation that has nothing to do with UFOs or movies.

“It’s hard to tell, but I think what it is is what we call a lenticular cloud,” said Marvin Percha, a meteorologist with the National Weather Service in Phoenix, The Arizona Republic reported. “But they can occasionally occur in other situations if you have an unstable layer in the atmosphere. Because of how they form, lenticular clouds are usually found in mountainous regions, not valleys like metro Phoenix.”

According to the Center for Science Education, lenticular clouds, also known as lee waves, occur downwind of an obstruction in the passage of a strong air current. Most clouds are blown across the sky by the wind, whereas lenticular clouds appear to remain stationary. Because the cloud evaporates on the downwind side, it appears fixed even if the air is flowing through it. Lenticular clouds are lens-shaped, and can resemble flying saucers.