Social media erupts with images of wave clouds in Alabama

Friday, March 4, 2016, 12:47 PM - A stunning and rare cloud formation left many Alabama residents in bewilderment Thursday.

Early risers were greeted to wavelike formations in the sky, also known as undulatus asperatus, which was proposed as an entirely new cloud type by the U.K. based Cloud Appreciation Society in 2009.

As a mixture of sleet, snow and rain tracked into the region Thursday morning, social media was flooded with images of the wavy clouds.

RELATED: The 12 types of clouds you meet in the spring and summer

The video above was taken in late March of 2015, showing a similar cloud formation in Augusta, Georgia.

“These clouds usually form after severe weather as the atmosphere becomes stable. Think of it as an oil and water mixture where they are separate. Atmospheric turbulence allows the clouds to move up and down mocking ocean waves,” says The Weather Network meteorologist Matt Grinter. "The reason behind why these formations are rare is because the atmosphere is stable with cold air at the surface and warm air aloft and that warmer air does not mix with the cooler air.”

SPRING IS HERE: How will El Niño affect your spring? Find out on The Weather Network’s Spring Forecast.

There is an ongoing dispute among cloud fanatics as to whether undulatus asperatus clouds should be acknowledged as a separate formation or just as a subcategory of “undulatus.” The World Meteorological Organization (WMO) is currently collecting evidence to decide on the matter which would require updating the International Cloud Atlas. The WMO suggests “asperitas,” derived from the Latin word for roughness be added, Mashable reports.

The WMO defines undulatus asperatus as, “well-defined, wavelike structures in the underside of the cloud, more chaotic and with less horizontal organization than undulatus.”

Here is what residents shared on social media.

One resident managed to capture the clouds as they moved overhead, creating a stunning time-lapse as seen below.