Pilot captures incredible cloud formation over South Island

A Kiwi pilot captured an incredible cloud formation over the South Island over the weekend.

Pilot Geoff Beckett was flying over the Otago region heading towards Invercargill when he saw the lenticular cloud.

He told the Herald that he had never seen anything more impressive in his aviation years, and told the cabin crew to alert passengers to the spectacular sight.

“Twenty years flying, this is the most impressive cloud I have ever seen.

“I thought it looks pretty interesting. As we pulled up next to it, we asked to go right to avoid it. You don’t want to fly through one of those. The turbulence would be horrible. That would be bad News.

“We were at 18,000 feet because the turbulence was estimated to be around 14,000 feet. Good thing we did it because this was build and build and build.

“The image shows a good sense of scale, but when you’re there at almost 20,000 feet yourself, it just keeps going up.

“I’ve seen some remarkable cloud formations, but nothing comes close to that.”

Beckett captured the lenticular cloud in a second sight as he “approached it from the north.”

He tagged the stunning photo on WeatherWatch.co.nz.

WeatherWatch CEO Philip Duncan tweeted that the image and the cloud formation were “mind-blowing” and “unreal.”

“It’s absolutely mind-blowing, Geoff. Unreal! Every layer is so neat and perfectly stacked. I’ve never seen a photo like this in my life!”

“This incredible lenticular cloud was seen over the Otago region of New Zealand’s South Island over the weekend,” WeatherWatch wrote on its website.

“Lenticular clouds are clouds that do not move and are formed mainly in the troposphere. A west breeze over the ranges below helped build this.

“They are often comparable in appearance to a lens or saucer and we often see smaller ‘UFO’ type clouds in New Zealand, especially in eastern areas like Otago and Canterbury when the westerly winds are right.”