Mind-Blowing Natural Phenomena: Nacreous Clouds

While the pastel-tinted pictures of nacreous clouds might seem more akin to an abstract artist’s thoughts on Spring than natural science, the clouds owe their pristine coloring to the stratosphere in which they reside. Alternately dubbed the “mother of pearl” cloud given its iridescent coloring, the nacreous cloud may only be found in the early evening or dawn and in particularly frigid regions at distances of 9 to 16 miles above ground.