When Daniel Hoerr was flying over Colorado farmland on his way to Denver, he noticed something interesting outside his plane window, so he took a picture.
He posted that picture on Reddit, and it's now going viral because the usually flat farmland appeared to be 3D, creating a real-life optical illusion. The trippy photo has many questioning what made the flat land appear to be an elaborate urban city.
Take a look at the photo below:
—The Weather Channel (@weatherchannel) January 10, 2019
One Reddit user, Kromeier, was surprised by the image because the farmland is known to be "flat as a table."
While Hoerr admits in the post that he isn't sure what caused the illusion, he does point to the fact that a recent snow storm may be the culprit.
Noah Newman, a research coordinator at Colorado Climate Center, seems to agree with Hoerr's hypothesis.
"Overall, I am figuring that the culprit is mainly due to the wind as the snow fell – coupled with farming practices such as fallowing some sections while growing crops in others – therefore intensifying the places where the sideways-blowing snowfall was blocked from the crops," Newman told The Weather Channel.
Newman went on to explain that the terrain itself may also contribute to the trippy look.
"Additionally, I’m sure some snow fences, property lines and lines of trees are causing a lot of the 3D effect as well," he said.
No matter the reason, it's reminding the internet about the beauty of Middle America.
