Woman sees 'very clear face' in Las Vegas sky amid rain, flooding

A woman spotted what resembled a face in the clouds above Las Vegas, Nevada, this week as the area was hit with heavy rain and flash flooding. 

Amber Mayorga recorded a video from her backyard on July 18, telling Storyful that she just happened to look up and see "what looked like a very clear face."

"It stayed up there for quite some time and appeared to be looking down at the Las Vegas valley," Mayorga said.

Heavy rainfall hit the Las Vegas valley, bringing storms, flash flooding and some reported damage.

A local meteorologist shared Mayorga’s footage on Facebook, prompting dozens of responses from people claiming to see a variety of famous and fictional people. James Dean, Elvis Presley and Professor Snape from "Harry Potter" were all suggested. 

storyful face in clouds

A screengrab from the video recorded by Amber Mayorga shows what looks like a face in the clouds above Las Vegas, Nevada, on July 18, 2021. (Photo credit: Amber Mayorga via Storyful)

According to the University of New South Wales, seeing faces in everyday objects is a phenomenon called face pareidolia. Researchers say humans process these fake faces using the same mechanisms of the brain that are used to recognize and interpret real human faces. 

A woman in Scotland claimed to see the face of Jesus on the skin of a potato she had recently bought at the supermarket. Another woman in Orlando, Florida, recently spotted clouds that appeared to be shaped like Disney characters over the Universal Orlando Resort.

RELATED: ‘Galactic ghoul’: NASA shares menacing-looking ‘face’ spotted by Hubble telescope in space

This story was reported from Cincinnati.