A whimsical cloud formation captured over Central last month has sparked online fascination, as Hongkongers debated whether the sky was showing off camels, cranes—or even the Loch Ness Monster.
The Hong Kong Observatory (HKO) on October 7 reposted a photo from a netizen on its official Facebook page, titled “Camels in the Sky.” The observatory said the ever-changing cumulus clouds had, on this occasion, “transformed into camels in the sky.”
“If you look closely, you can notice that the camel cloud has its limbs formed by banner-like clouds,” the HKO wrote. “Before the precipitation from the clouds reaches the ground, it gets evaporated by the drier warm air, creating thin vertical cloud strips at the base! What do you think?”
The post quickly drew cheerful reactions. “It really looks like a camel!” one user commented, while another joked, “Maybe it reminds us of the Silk Road!” Others added playfully, “Riding a camel like this would be quite stylish for a journey.”
The original photograph was taken by a member of the Community Weather Observing Scheme (CWOS) Facebook group. The photographer captured the scene on September 12 at around 6.25pm in Central, describing in the comments: “It looks like an ostrich on the left and a dog on the right.”
Other members shared photos of the same cloud from different angles, with some saying it resembled a crane in flight. Yet many netizens agreed that the formation looked most like the mythical Loch Ness Monster—while a few thought it bore a closer resemblance to a velociraptor.
