Mysterious Cloud Hovering Over Reykjavik Yesterday Morning Actually Common Phenomenon

An odd, almost perfectly egg-shaped cloud hovering by itself over Reykjavík yesterday morning is in fact a fairly common phenomenon, at least in Iceland’s part of the world.

When fashion designer Sigga Maija stepped outside in downtown Reykjavík yesterday morning, she noticed the cloud and snapped a photo, promptly sharing it to Facebook with the status “Egg or aliens?”.

In the comments, comparisons to the alien ships in the movie Arrival or the giant heads from Rick & Morty were made, with some even doubting its authenticity. However, clouds of this type are fairly common in this part of the world, and their strange shape has a natural explanation.

Known as lenticular clouds, these formations are typically caused by large features on the surface of the Earth, such as mountains or even skyscrapers. Such structures disrupt the flow of air and can form eddies, and when stable, moist air flows into these eddies, lenticular clouds can form.

Lenticular clouds are a fairly common phenomenon in Iceland, but most of the time these clouds are saucer-shaped; an egg-shaped lenticular cloud, while not outside of the realm of common possibility, is certainly distinct.