I couldn’t help my brother when he asked about these ones.

[Annie O'Brian]

1. Hi fellow Cloud Spotters. Spotted over Suffolk on a hot June evening after a blustery summer day (26 June). My brother was chilling with fellow Tudor re actors at Kentwell Hall and they were all watching the skies as they chatted. They sent pics to me because they know I am obsessed, but I haven’t seen these kinds of clouds before and couldn’t enlighten them.  Can anyone explain what this pair of clouds in the top photo are, how they form and why they are duplicated?  Also, are the lines of clouds in the 2nd photo (taken about 30 mins later) possibly related to the first? Thank you all very much. 

[Hans Stocker]

Hello Annie, your brother spotted two peculiar clouds indeed, like two little flying carpets. The second photo helps in identifying them. There you see what started as contrails has spread out and got threads. You can see the same in the two little clouds. At the left of both you can see where the contrail started as a small segment of a contrail. It has been spread to the right in threads. What makes them peculiar is that they seem to be so local and that’s because a contrail needs the right amount of moisture along its line. That the contrails are so short tells us that only here enough moisture was present to let the contrail develop and persist. Then it also has spread to the right to form these nice carpets. In the second photo you can see that there must have been enough moisture for a much longer contrail to develop and spread out.

I hope you like it.

Best wishes, Hans

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