‘Stunning mothership’ cloud formation looming over city captured on video



CLOVIS, NM--Nature can be both beautiful and terrifying and this video definitely showcases that.

Video recorded in Clovis, New Mexico on June 23 captured an enormous shelf cloud that had formed over the city.

Christian J. Hernandez, the person who took the footage of the cloud said “the sunset was beautiful as a stunning mothership cloud moved closer into town that evening.”

Shelf clouds are often associated with squall lines, according to the National Weather Service. Squall lines are groups of storms that arrange in a line as it moves across a swath of land.

These lines are often reported when funnel clouds, cloud rotation or walls of clouds can be seen before the onset of a severe weather event.

The main threat when it comes to squall lines is severely damaging winds with the slight chance of a brief spin-up tornado. Tornadoes associated with these types of formations are often short-lived and rain-wrapped, the NWS stated.

Squall lines tend to pass quickly and can be hundreds of miles long but are typically only 10 or 20 miles wide.

There were no reports of significant damage arising from this particular storm.

Storyful contributed to this report.