Web desk: Residents of Quetta were mesmerised after witnessing what many described online as an “Aurora in Quetta.”
However, meteorologists later confirmed it was a rare lenticular cloud formation that lit up the skies with shifting colours that reminded everyone of a rainbow.
According to a statement shared on X, the Pakistan Meteorological Department (PMD) said, “The lenticular cloud formation was observed in the early morning of Oct 28, 2025, over Koh e Murdaar in the eastern range of Quetta city. The cloud appeared ahead of sunrise, persisted for approximately 20 minutes, and dissipated just prior to sunrise.”
The PMD identified the occurrence as a contrail-type cloud, often caused by the rotational airflow of aircraft, leading to distinctive wave-like patterns in the sky.
Photos and videos of the spectacle quickly went viral on social media, with many users linking the phenomenon to aerial activities or calling it an “aurora.”
Speaking to a news channel, PMD spokesperson Anjum Nazir Zaigham explained: “When stable and humid winds pass through the clouds, it produces waves in the skies.”
He added, “Such formation typically produces at the foggy top of hills, and the turn vanishes in a few moments in the form of vapours.”
Experts say lenticular clouds are known for creating wavy or space-like shapes in the atmosphere, often leading to spectacular visual effects that are easily mistaken for auroras.
Rare Lenticular Cloud Formation Over Quetta
— Pak Met Department محکمہ موسمیات (@pmdgov) October 28, 2025
A lenticular cloud formation was observed in the early morning of Oct 28, 2025, over Koh e Murdaar – eastern range of Quetta city. The cloud appeared before sunrise, persisted for approx. 20 minutes, and dissipated just prior to sunrise pic.twitter.com/ovtvjXM3oy
Aurora in Quetta? What’s the Difference
An aurora is a natural display of light that appears in the sky when charged particles from the sun collide with gases in Earth’s atmosphere.
In the Northern Hemisphere, it is known as the aurora borealis or northern lights. The aurora borealis is famously known; however, these lights are called by a different name in the South.
In the Southern Hemisphere, it is called the aurora australis or southern lights.
These collisions produce vivid, glowing colours, much like the illumination in a neon sign, with different gases creating different hues.
Lenticular clouds, on the other hand, are stationary, lens-shaped clouds that usually form in the troposphere. They are aligned with the direction of the wind.
They often resemble discs or saucers and are sometimes confused with unusual atmospheric phenomena.
In some cases, nacreous clouds, which develop in the lower stratosphere, can also take on lenticular-like shapes.
