There was an interesting article on contrail lobes in the August edition of "Weather".
Interestingly, I came across a pronounced example of contrail lobes yesterday, while walking the dog at 1832 BST, and managed to take a photo, which I will attempt to attached.
The photograph was taken looking in a SW direction, and the contrail was oriented NW-SE. There must have been a strong SW-NE jet stream, because when I took the photo the contrail was less than 45deg elevation; within around 2-3 minutes it was directly overhead (carried "sideways" by the strong wind). A quick calculation would indicate that if the height was around 25,000 feet, the wind speed would have been >100mph.
Contrail lobes
- Martin Rowley
- Posts: 34
- Joined: Sat Dec 12, 2015 8:32 pm
- Location: West Moors, East Dorset
Re: Contrail lobes
... thanks for posting that image: every time I see these 'lobes' I'm captivated by the apparent complexity of exactly how they form. The article you mention gives a creditable mechanism - but I wonder how many looking upwards on a fine day realise just how 'dynamic' is the atmosphere around these features.
Martin.
Martin.
Martin Rowley
West Moors, East Dorset
Lat: 50deg 49.25'N, Long: 01deg 53.05'W
Height (amsl): 17 m (56 feet)
COL category: C1 overall/TRSHEUN=CC-A03-
West Moors, East Dorset
Lat: 50deg 49.25'N, Long: 01deg 53.05'W
Height (amsl): 17 m (56 feet)
COL category: C1 overall/TRSHEUN=CC-A03-