Texans Keep Reporting UFOs That Resemble Something Else

A rash of UFO sightings in Texas is likely caused by certain cloud formations, unless you believe that UFOs disguise themselves as clouds. Several sightings last month garnered media attention, but scientists and meteorologists identified the airborne objects as disc-shaped "lenticular clouds" caused by warm air rising in cooler areas, the Houston Chronicle reports. Then a fresh sighting appeared on the Mutual UFO Network website this week: "It looked like a cloud at first, but its appearance was circular and disappeared before there [sic] eyes," writes someone who claimed to be making the report for friends, who allegedly saw the "UFO" on May 16. Pictures were attached, but it's unclear if they're of the "UFO" in question or other similar clouds.

But MUFON's volunteer chief investigator in Texas, Fletcher Gray, tells the Chronicle it's really just a cloud caused by a low pressure system, colder upper atmosphere, and recent bursts of hail and rain: "It will be cleared out as a lenticular cloud," he says. Some UFO enthusiasts, however, claim that spaceships travel disguised as lenticular clouds and are spotted when they accidentally "de-cloak," Inquisitr reports. Meanwhile, Gray is handling 56 UFO sightings submitted over the past month—including one by a guy who photographed a green garbage can lid and said it was a UFO. "You could see the handles on the lid," says Gray. (Read about UFO enthusiasts who unveiled a "Roswell alien photo.")