Noctilucent Clouds Spotted In The Pacific Northwest Skies

PORTLAND, Ore. – A rare phenomena showed itself above the Pacific Northwest over the weekend.

Noctilucent clouds are made up of ice crystals and are normally seen much farther north.

David Elson with the National Weather Service tells us they are normally seen for about 10 minutes, just before sunset and sunrise, however there is no way to know if or when the 50 mile high clouds will be spotted again.

Elson says they have very little effect on our weather, and are just a rare, and gorgeous, sight to see.

Will the noctilucents be back again tonight? We can’t say for sure, but we’ll be on the lookout after about 9:40 PM here in northwest OR and southwest WA. We didn’t get a picture last night, so we’ll share this one by @BigNastyWeather taken during a similar night back in 2009. pic.twitter.com/0elN9rxxSI

— NWS Portland (@NWSPortland) June 11, 2019