What are Contrail Shadows?
Contrail shadows form when the long thin artificial clouds formed behind aircraft cast a shadow on a lower, or occasionally higher, layer of cloud. Contrails,…
Tag: contrails
The First Long Contrail
It is very satisfying to notice the first long contrail, it’s one of the earliest warnings of a weather change. A front is likely on…
How to Forecast Weather with Contrails
Below is a short excerpt from the book, The Secret World of Weather, on how contrails can be used to predict changes in weather Contrails…
What is a Distrail?
A distrail is the clear path through a cloud formed in the wake of an aircraft. Distrails form because the aircraft turns the water droplets…
Feedback from Michigan
My thanks to Tim Webb for reading my books and writing with some local feedback: I thought you may enjoy this photo. Contrails in west…
22 Degree Halo and Contrail Shadow
My thanks to Alan Gibson, urbane forager and regular contributor to this blog, for another great image. In this picture we are looking at two…
How to Navigate Using the Upper Winds and Clouds
I have written in the past about the basics of using the weather to navigate. Here I’d like to offer a couple of tips to…
BBC Winter Wonderland
I did a short piece for BBC Inside Out that was broadcast on Monday evening. It can be viewed via this link (within the UK,…
Contrail Shadows
My thanks to Alan Gibson, author of the Urbane Forager blog and book, for sending me these great images of a contrail shadow. (Contrails are…
Venus at Dawn
Not too many words needed this morning. Venus at dawn, over a misty valley. You might just be able to make out Arcturus, hiding behind…
Tin Bird Trails
We may never know the exact method that the earliest explorers used to find their way, but there is a friendly finger of suspicion that…
The First Frost
The northerly winds were carrying high cirrus and contrails down towards the coast this morning. They have brought colder air, as forecast yesterday. This gave…
Contrails and Crescents
Venus and Sirius both beamed at me this morning during my pre-dawn shiver outside. The aircraft were painting a pink path to the continent to…
Contrails and Clouds
__________________________________________________________ If you look closely at these two pictures you can see how the aircraft contrail cuts the lower cumulus clouds at a slightly different…
Contrails and Continents
This morning’s sun was a strong enough clue, but if we wanted to know which way was southeast then these aircraft contrails are pointing the…
A Smorgasbord of Clouds
Tonight’s early evening sky is a feast of cloud types. Cumulus, passing low and darkened by the shade, perhaps the last of the fair-weather clouds…