A contrail is a contrail is a contrail ...

CONTRAILS typically form behind high-flying jets in a low-humidity environment.  Cold, dry conditions -- exactly those found in the upper atmosphere -- are prerequisites to contrail formation.  The humidity level of the upper atmosphere is LOW, which is the reason clouds form in the troposphere -- the lower portion of our atmosphere.  Jet contrails, which occur at high altitudes (e.g., 40,000 feet) disappear quickly -- much like your breath on a cold winter day.  They are simply made of water vapor.  (Why do contrails disappear?  They evaporate in the dryness, helped along by solar radiation.)

Clouds need moisture to form

Now, boys and girls, CLOUDS need two elements in order to form -- particles and moisture.  They require condensation nuclei (small particulates) for water vapor to adhere to.  The size of these nuclei is about seven microns (picture a red blood cell).  Clouds also need conditions of about 70% humidity before they amass at various levels of our troposphere.  Clouds hang around for a long time, and come in basic varieties: cirrus (high altitude, feathery looking), cumulus (puffy and fat, with noticeable vertical dimension), and stratus (low-hanging ... those sheets of gray that create an overcast day).

The lesson:  Clouds and contrails require opposite conditions to form!  Don't forget this.

Artificial clouds sprayed by planes!

Today's news:  We don't get to see a lot of natural clouds any more!  ... So, what DO we see up there in the sky?

All over the world today, we are seeing "clouds" formed by "contrails" left by high-flying jet planes.  For some reason, as of 1998 or so, the white lines behind jets stopped going away. (This would be like your breath staying in the air for hours on a winter day, forming big swaths of whiteness all around you as you walked.)  For some reason, after 1998, there were SO MANY jets leaving white trails in the sky that lasted all day, making THE WHOLE SKY OVERCAST, that NASA decided we now had a phenomenon called "persistent jet contrails."  But they cannot explain why they are persistent ...

REMEMBER THE RULES: Clouds need 70% moisture to form.  Contrails need low humidity (moisture) to form.

Oddly enough ...

Somehow, "contrails" are now forming in high humidity -- all over New Jersey, the humid Midwest, tropical Florida, the sticky South ... dozens and dozens of contrails ... every day!  In fact, so many contrails form that they create grids in the sky that baffle people standing on the ground below.  It\'s like an air show!

What happens after the "air show"?  People who are not spending their time shopping and dialing on their cell phones have noticed this:

The "contrails" continue to enlarge, swallowing the sky!  Places like Phoenix, Arizona (in the middle of the desert) are completely overcast by the end of each day.  Now, we learned that clouds need humidity to form, and the desert typically HAS NO HUMIDITY, so how do clouds form in the desert day after day?

As top-notch researcher Clifford Carnicom notes, "If "contrails" by appearance transform into "clouds," it can be concluded that the material of composition is not water vapor."  What this means:  If what looks like a contrail then becomes a cloud, it isn\'t made of water vapor.

Let's review:  We now have "contrails" forming in very humid conditions and clouds forming in very dry conditions ... What could that possibly mean?  Nature isn't doing what it's supposed to.  (Hmmm ... oh, of course!  It's global warming, for sure.  Everything has changed because of global warming.  In fact, take a look at the third article on our Global Warming page.  Global warming can now be blamed for EVERYTHING!)

If you enjoy math and science, read this post by Carnicom and this one.  If you want the simple translation, there is no such thing as a persistent contrail.  (Visualize "persistent breath.")  If what comes out of a plane is staying in the air and filling up the sky, it's not water-based.  The "clouds" shown in the three pictures above are not clouds.  They are compositions of something else.  Why are airplanes crisscrossing the sky over populated areas, leaving this material?

Start looking.  Take a few photos.  Watch the trails over time.  Ask your friends if they see them.  Teach another person to look with different eyes.

 A little matter of ... VISIBILITY

In 1997, the FAA standard for "good visibility" dropped from 40+ miles down to 10 miles. 
Question #1: Why?

Question #2: Isn't it a big deal that we can't see more than 10 miles?  There has been no explanation for why the FAA standard suddenly changed.  Read Clifford Carnicom's paper on the visibility standard here.

Oh say can you see?

FACTS ABOUT VISIBILITY:  Visibility diminishes because of lack of light (e.g., you can\'t see in the dark) or because there's something between your eyes and what you're looking at.  Particulate content (i.e., stuff in the air) lowers visibility.  If you used to be able to see a mountain 20 miles away in years past and you can no longer see it today, it's because the air is occluded with something -- "pollution" is what most people like to call it.  Some use the word "haze."  The hard reality of diminished visibility due to particulate content is that it goes along with a rise in mortality.  Simply put, if you can't see because the air isn't clear, you're breathing what's in the air.  At the most elementary physical/mechanical level -- just breathing particulates of a certain size will have a damaging effect on human life.  This is data based.  See graph here.

So, no matter what's in the air that's making us unable to see (whether it's suspicious aerosols or dust or WHATEVER), it's compromising our health.  An increased particulate count means increased mortality.  Tell that to the weatherman -- and ask him what's in the air!

Read this meteorologist's reply to a citizen asking for an explanation.

See the particle storm for yourself ...

Needed: An 18-inch UV tubular blacklight and a little courage.  From one tester: "You are looking for tiny filaments ... they glow bright blue.  You may be astonished to find them ALL OVER -- your skin, your rug, your mirrors (they seem 'attracted' to mirrors!)  They're in the air, swirling and floating on the slightest currents.  Check your hair -- it can host hundreds!  Your clothes glow like galaxies of miniature stars.  Dust on every flat surface of your home can be filled with them." (Read more here.)