Quote:
Originally posted by sipsake
You seem to have a somewhat tenuous grasp of the science involved in the formation of contrails. If you truly are frightened by condensation trails, then find out a little more about them and put your mind at ease.
http://cimss.ssec.wisc.edu/wxwise/class/contrail.html
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I did know the basics of contrail formation, but I appreciate the extra information that your link provided.
The reason I am suspicious of what I saw and photographed is the circumstances surrounding the formation. The trails in the photo are at a 45° angle to the only flight paths in the area at the time they were formed. It was an extermely dry night, and the dozen planes that flew through that area at various altitudes during the time that those in the photo were visible, all left normal contrails that dissipated within a minute.
The thing that really aroused my suspicion was that the horizontal trail was formed by on plane flying across in front of me, and the other three (plus one that is not visible in this picture) were formed shortly after by planes flying in a formation. They all left normal contrails, sprayed whatever is in the pictures, and resumed leaving normal contrails afterward. The normal contrails left by the planes dissipated within 30 to 45 seconds. The ones in the picture (taken 20 minutes after formation) stayed for a total of about 25 to 30 minutes before wind-induced dissipation made them indistinguishable from the rest of the clouds.