Kristin Braund, a gardener from Portland, Dorset, experienced a rare moment of wonder when she looked up at the sky and saw what initially appeared to be a UFO. Instead, she witnessed a fascinating natural weather phenomenon known as a Fallstreak hole, or Cavum.
Fallstreak holes are large, typically circular or elliptical gaps that form in clouds made of supercooled water droplets. These gaps occur when an aircraft passes through a cloud layer, triggering the supercooled droplets to freeze and fall, leaving behind a remarkable clear patch in the sky. The unusual shape Kristin saw resembled a footprint, which took her by surprise.
“I was in my garden admiring my sunflowers when I glanced upwards,” Kristin shared. “As someone training to be a paraglider, I’m always captivated by the sky, but this formation was like nothing I’ve seen before. It was unique and had an ethereal quality that really caught me off guard.”
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The UK Met Office explains that these rare cloud formations are often mistaken for UFOs due to their distinctive and eerie appearance. While Kristin’s sighting was a natural weather event, Dorset and nearby regions have a history of intriguing UFO reports.
Over the years, there have been numerous UFO sightings in Somerset, including disc-shaped objects with unusual colors, silent lights following aircraft flight paths, and slow-moving shapes such as tic-tac-like forms above Spaxton. Nearly half of all UK sightings include photographic or video evidence, with many describing objects as star-like, orb-shaped, spherical, or cylindrical.
Interestingly, Greater Manchester leads the UK in documented UFO sightings, followed closely by Greater London, Cheshire, and West Sussex. Glasgow tops the list for UFO activity in towns and cities with 22 recorded encounters.
While Kristin’s extraordinary skywatching moment turned out to be a rare but natural occurrence, it adds to the rich tapestry of curious sky phenomena that continue to inspire and mystify people across the UK.