“I’ve often described the ‘Summer Blue’ of these clear January skies as my favourite colour, but it’s the little details hiding within them that I’ve found to be a wonderful seasonal opportunity to learn the sky’s language, and listen to what our skies have to tell us.
One such detail that has fascinated me for many years, is that of aeroplane con-trails (condensation trails) which tell the story of moisture levels in our upper atmosphere (around 8km up!). And while you might think that’s too far up to affect us all the way down here, they can be an important sign of what lies ahead in the world of predicting the weather.
If the air is dry, then a high flying plane will have little to no contrail at all, and as such we can expect the clear blue skies and fine weather to continue. But as the contrails both grow and stick around for longer periods, moisture levels are rising, and at the very least we can expect an increase in cloud cover. But add in some multi-directional Cirrus clouds flicking through the skies, and an increasing haze, and that might just be the skies telling us a warm front is on its way.
It’s not only the shape of clouds that are hiding clues, but also how quickly they change, move across the sky, and so much more information simply from watching the world above us. And the great part is you don’t need any books, instruments, or anything at all for that matter, other than your eyes and a curiosity to learn/listen to what the heavens are whispering to us, every moment of every day.
And whilst I appreciate we can now just swipe a screen and get an up to date forecast in an instant, which can be impressively accurate several days ahead; but relationships make life so much richer, and the sky could become a very good friend, if you take the time to get to know it!”
