The anvil shape happens because as clouds reach the tropopause, a relatively stable area that acts like an atmospheric “lid,” they fan out horizontally. There is also something else going on ...

Shelf clouds A low, horizontal, wedge-shaped cloud, usually associated with a thunderstorm gust front. Created by cold air from a thunderstorm downdraft spreading out and lifting warm, moist air.

Several Local 12 viewers around the Tri-State this weekend sent in photos of an oddly-shaped cloud asking for an explanation of what it is and how it forms.

Towering, dense clouds with a flat, anvil-shaped top. ... A shelf cloud rolling through Panama, Oklahoma. A low, horizontal, wedge-shaped cloud, usually associated with a thunderstorm gust front.

HOUSTON — Anvil clouds can often look like an alien spacecraft trying to land, We’ve had emails suggesting there is a UFO in the sky and immediately when I see the picture, it’s an anvil cloud.

Did you see these clouds this past weekend? Some of us refer to them as "Scary Looking Clouds," for obvious reasons, but here ...

Flying high over the ground in a plane, a thunderstorm's anvil cloud might be the last thing you want to see, but it's exactly what a group of scientists conducting an airborne mission were ...

Drivers on their morning commute were treated to views of a massive, unusually-shaped cloud as the Sun rose over the Houston area Thursday morning. The aptly nicknamed anvil cloud towered over the ...

Towering, dense clouds with a flat, anvil-shaped top. ... A shelf cloud rolling through Panama, Oklahoma. A low, horizontal, wedge-shaped cloud, usually associated with a thunderstorm gust front.