The Weather Notebook: The Controversy Over Chemtrails

The Controversy Over Chemtrails
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Dave Thurlow, Host

Something called chemtrails have been in the news recently, reportedly being trails of chemicals from airplanes. They look like contrails, which is short for condensation trails - long thin white clouds extruded from high flying planes.

Contrails crisscross the sky behind the Sherman Adams building on the summit of Mount Washington, NH. The tower is where the Observatory's anemometers record winds over 75 MPH (hurricane force) on average 104 days a year. Mount Washington Observatory Photo Collection
Some believe these contrails to be evidence of a secret government conspiracy. I think it's a joke, I mean really at first I thought it was some kind of parody of doomsayers. But now, I think they mean it. Hi, I'm Dave Thurlow for The Weather Notebook.

I'm sure you've seen them, contrails that is, some days they criss cross the sky, others they seem to briefly trail a jet for a few minutes before drying up. Contrails are made of water droplets, formed on the exhaust particles from jet engines when the relative humidity is high, up where the planes fly. Some days you see a whole bunch, some days you see none.

Anyway, one of the claims by the chemtrail theorists is that the government is conducting the spraying to test warfare chemicals on millions of people. As evidence they cite increases in contrail sightings - "sightings", you'd think they'd spray the stuff at night -- and they claim there are more people reporting flu-like symptoms as a result of the spraying. Give me a break.

The leap from contrails to chemtrails, is so speculative that it makes me wonder why I'm even talking about this nonsense. I guess it's because it has to do with the weather. But also because it has to do with science, in which you come to a conclusion as slowly as possible. The chemetrail folks seem to rush to a conclusion, as is their right. But they shouldn't expect reasonable folks to believe them.

The Weather Notebook is funded by The National Science Foundation, with underwriting provided by Subaru.