Nature has always been a source of inspiration for designers to look at things differently.

We all know that a tree doesn’t always have green leaves, water is not blue and clouds are certainly not always white and puffy. As designers, we need to know to look beyond the obvious when looking at things.

Cloud formations such as mammatus or lenticular among others, are perfect examples of how intricate and different nature can be. There are even so called ‘ufo clouds’, which truly resemble the shape of a UFO.

In this post, we take a look at some amazing photographs of the weirdest cloud formations that you’ll ever see, that are destined to inspire your design work and surely blow your mind.

Unbelievable supercell storm cloud over neighborhood. Photo by: Pat Kavanagh

Mammatus clouds over Quebec, Canada. Mammatus, also known as mammatocumulus, is a meteorological term applied to a cellular pattern of pouches hanging underneath the base of a cloud. Photo by: Michel Filion

Purple sky during thunderstorm over Nebraska. Photo by: Anne Goforth

Lenticular clouds over Hawaii. A stationary lens-shaped clouds that form in the troposphere, normally in perpendicular alignment to the wind. Photo by: Jolly Sailor

Beautiful red clouds over long reef, Australia. Photo by: Glenn Crouch

Strange shape of asperatus clouds over New Zealand. The clouds are most closely related to undulatus clouds. Although they appear dark and storm-like, they tend to dissipate without a storm forming. Photo by: Witta Priester

Incredible supercell thunderstorm, Montana. Photo by: Antony Spencer

Stunning view on clouds from top of the mountain. Photo by: Adam Gibbs

Magnificent sky over Czech Republic captured using long exposure technique photography. Photo by: Martin Rak

Above the clouds, seen from airplane above Switzerland. Photo by: Edgar Moskopp

Time stacking photo of red clouds. Photo by: Matt Molloy

Aurora Borealis behind clouds, Iceland. Photo by: Friðþjófur M

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