A combination of light winds drifting over Northland, along with the shape of northern New Zealand’s coastline helped to produce these funky short lived clouds over Auckland yesterday afternoon.

“Beautiful sunny, calm winters afternoon in Swanson, Auckland” wrote Jo Sim who took the photo and also uploaded it directly to our website yesterday.

Clouds and gentle winds over land can often create similar patterns to the sand under the shifting currents of the sea, forming lines or ripple patterns.

However the list of types of clouds continues to grow, so we asked former MetService meteorologist Bob McDavitt to give us his thoughts. “I’m thinking the cloud is cirrus undulatus, as it seems much higher than the low cloud seen on the left, and appears very white”.

If you have cool cloud or weather photos you can upload them to our galleries directly by clicking here or sending from directly from your phone via our free App.

– WeatherWatch.co.nz