If you were up and outside last night around 10-11PM and happened to look up into the night sky you would have seen something pretty rare for Minnesota. Clouds that appear to be made of mercury. These silvery slightly glowing clouds are called Noctilucent clouds and for Minnesota seeing them is pretty unique and rare. 

Noctilucent clouds often appear in areas that are located at higher latitudes generally 45* North and South and they only exist in the highest reaches of the atmosphere, the mesosphere, which can be as much as 50 miles above the Earth’s surface.

The clouds are thought to be made of ice crystals that form on fine dust particles from meteors. The seemingly eerily glowing, yet mesmerizing clouds are formed when air close to the ground gets heated and rises.  


Photos of the clouds were pouring in on social media last night and this morning and it wasn't just Minnesota getting in on the Noctilucent cloud parade. The Netherlands was also getting to see the phenomenon last night according to photos on Twitter.