Canterbury locals were fascinated by the cloud formations across the region that "looked like spaceships".
The formations that look like a stack of plates stunned Fernside local John Crawley when he looked up on Wednesday afternoon.
"I came up the hill from our driveway and thought, 'What the heck'. I thought of some of those alien movies and looked like some spaceships," he told Newshub.
"I couldn't believe the shapes."
And Crawley wasn't the only one that spotted the spaceship-like cloud formations - Sharon also sent Newshub a picture she captured at Christchurch Airport.
"The swirl formations are awesome."
Crawley told Newshub he had never seen "anything like them", so Newshub sent the pictures to MetService to find out what they were.
Meteorologist John Law told Newshub the cloud formations are "great examples" of altocumulus lenticularis, more commonly known as lenticular clouds.
"These clouds are formed by strong winds blowing over the tops of the Southern Alps."
Law said it's not uncommon to see lenticular clouds forming across Aotearoa, but are "a spectacular sight and a good indication of strong winds aloft".
