No Planes, No Clouds, No Sunburn !

Accustomisation to a new normal can so easily bring about a distortion of memory. Having had more than 10 years of rubbish summers, the general pattern being 2 weeks of heat in March/April, 2 more weeks of heat in April/May and then it was rubbish again until August at which point we are promised an Indian summer which never materialises, it is easy to forget that summers used to be long, hot and dominated by big blue clear skies. July 3rd was a rare and welcome exception to the hazy, streaky skies that are now inflicted on us as a result of relentless engineering of our weather. The day started off clear but more importantly fresh, with little haze in the air. As the sun beamed down and the temperature rose, we felt none of the severe heat or skin burning that we experience when we see the sky filled with aircraft-induced cirrus, further confirming our theory about the fact that one of the many substances being sprayed is causing sun-burn in conditions and on timescales that would not normally have that effect.

More importantly, however, it was impossible to ignore the fact that there was hardly a plane in sight today. Excluding London TOALs (take off and landings) I could have counted the total number of transient flights on my fingers and toes. OK slight exaggeration but it was hard to spot any. Now if we compare the frequency of 37/hr we noted on April 12th when London was hit with massive spraying then we see some confirmation of the fact that many flights that are seen laying the big, fat, spreading trails that turn otherwise blue skies grey, are simply in the air to do that. We suspected a long time ago that these are also not carrying passengers, but without coordinated monitoring across several European airports it is impossible to prove, suffice to say that when the planes don’t fly we get clear skies, and when the skies are filled with streaks and go grey, we see lots more planes than normal. It is quite a simple equation and clear to anyone who cares to observe.

There were some hazers out and indeed by the end of the day the sky was predictably brown and murky, but not a single cloud in the sky. Many of the planes we did see had no trail at all, indicating that the few genuine passenger flights that did cross London airspace were ‘switched off’. We wont go into the specifics of how that happens as we cover it in other articles suffice to say that for some unknown reason we were spared the usual obliteration of our blue skies by those behind these programs.

The fact that we saw the usual haze building up throughout the day though, but with none of the usual fluffy induced cumulus clouds they normally produce has made us question our theory about exactly how they form. Rather than doubting it though, we have simply refined it in the light of some additional new evidence. More on that soon, but for now enjoy the image gallery.