When Carole Smith (Member 52,825) saw this ice-crystal cloud over Houston, Texas, US, she thought it looked like a someone in distress waving at her. Known as Cirrus altocumulogenitus, this formed as high Altocumulus clouds froze and dissipated as they fell below.

The 1957 poem ‘Not Waving but Drowning’ by English poet and novelist Stevie Smith comes to mind.

‘Nobody heard him, the dead man,  
But still he lay moaning:
I was much further out than you thought  
And not waving but drowning.

Poor chap, he always loved larking.
And now he’s dead.
It must have been too cold for him his heart gave way,  
They said.

Oh, no no no, it was too cold always  
(Still the dead one lay moaning)  
I was much too far out all my life  
And not waving but drowning.’