Random thought that’s been on my mind for a while. When I was a nipper and egg and cress sandwiches weren’t extinct, the sky didn’t seem to have these great big, amorphous swathes of white vapour which characterise the muggy but less rainy days of summer. They had more or less well-formed, fluffy clouds. Nowadays, when I chomp my on a goats cheese and sundried tomato focaccia and survey the firmament, these murky, vapour-rich bodies appear commonplace. To me they seem to be the poor relations of the clouds that form in tropical regions of the World. Is there a grain of truth in my observation or is it just my memory fading? I’m wondering if this is a visible sign of global warming (i.e. increased water vapour in the atmosphere), or perhaps it’s a sign that our country is sliding towards being a Banana Republic.

(Caveat: I grew up in the Lakes/Pennines and now live in the relative tropics of South Wales).

Also, anyone still eating cress? I’m not – pointless stuff, apart form its propensity to choke kids that eat too fast!

#chemtrails

Yes.

Also, the wind is different isn’t it? We used to have long, still days with barely a whisper for months on end. The first Autumn breeze was always a notice of the coming change of season.

Now we have that Autumn wind all summer long.

Also the skies were nicer when the planes were not flying a few years ago.

Yes, it does look different.

When I was a kid, the night sky used to glow in the west due to the three blast furnaces which were in 24 hour operation.

Doesn’t happen now.

Pink fluffy clouds

Oops! That’s what I get for making a cup of tea with the thread open.

Also, anyone still eating cress?

Wasn’t it banned in the 90s, messing with clouds apparently…

The sky was farther away when I was little.

Is that the same as contrails from aircraft? Those wispy high clouds that look a smidge like cirrus? Nope, not what I mean. I’m talking about the structureless masses which cover the sky – perhaps these are nimbostratus? Not an expert on clouds but deffo not contrails.

Yes, when I was a kid it was full of military jets zotting around at low-level. I miss that.

Riksbar – you should move to South Wales/Beacons – plenty of those flying low around here.

I suspect it has something to do with greater temperature gradients causing faster jet streams.

IANAMeteorologist

Also, can’t beat a bit of The Orb.

Its those rose tinted glasses you are now using to view the past with. Thats the cause 🙂

I blame Kate Bush, personally.

Trimix – maybe, but cress is still cress through the rosiest of specs.

Its those rose tinted glasses you are now using to view the past with. Thats the cause 🙂

Yeah this, I’ve been bored by enough Gammon’s (i’m on now way calling the OP a Gammon) moaning about having ‘proper seasons’ when they were kids. It’s odd because they seem to blame ‘them’ I don’t know who they are, but they blame them for messing around with ‘Proper’ weather. In their mind, it Snowed at Christmas, ever year and it was 25c, Sunny without a breeze from June to Sept. Of course Climate change isn’t real so it must be someone else’s fault.

Met office data doesn’t back up their claims, cloud shapes are a new one on me though. Can’t say I’ve noticed, I spent time as a kid laying on the grass looking at the sky in wonder, now the only time I seem to have to myself it standing in queues when I’m staring at my phone bored.

The OP is Chicken Licken and I claim my five pounds.

It looks a little bit closer.

Met office data doesn’t back up their claims

Don’t you know we’ve had enough of experts….

Yes, I think a lot is down to aircraft traffic if you live anywhere near a major city, it was remarkable the difference was clearly noticeable when European air traffic was grounded when that Icelandic volcano erupted a few years ago, and as I live 30km from a major airport the generic background noise was also lower (which was just really strange, like a low level background interference audible fuzz just wasn’t there any more, a noise level I can’t identify when it is there, but noticed when it wasn’t)

The moon looks closer but that’s probs as I have it on a stick 😜

Wind patterns have changed a lot. Fifties and sixties had a prevailing sw pattern and we had a lot more Atlantic winds blowing over us.

I blame the EU. Coming over here with their foreign clouds. We need to take back control. Import some American* clouds.

* – complete with chemtrails 😉

It’s attributable to the lower levels of halcyon gas in the atmosphere.

Yeah this, I’ve been bored by enough Gammon’s (i’m on now way calling the OP a Gammon) moaning about having ‘proper seasons’ when they were kids. It’s odd because they seem to blame ‘them’ I don’t know who they are, but they blame them for messing around with ‘Proper’ weather. In their mind, it Snowed at Christmas, ever year and it was 25c, Sunny without a breeze from June to Sept. Of course Climate change isn’t real so it must be someone else’s fault.

Met office data doesn’t back up their claims, cloud shapes are a new one on me though. Can’t say I’ve noticed, I spent time as a kid laying on the grass looking at the sky in wonder, now the only time I seem to have to myself it standing in queues when I’m staring at my phone bored.

+1

At night there is less orange glow as they phase out Sodium street lights, not really noticed a daytime difference. Also the sea is different, ST Ives bay is no longer dark red.

Thanks for the responses. I don’t think I’m Gammonesque; just curious about the sky above.

Just did a quick Google – apparently according to climate scientists, clouds are moving to higher latitudes and elevations, which is not good news. So something is afoot, even if my notion about clouds now and then is complete horsesh*t.

if by “sky” you mean nearly everything

and when you say “different” you mean shit

then yes

Is that the same as contrails from aircraft? Those wispy high clouds that look a smidge like cirrus? Nope, not what I mean. I’m talking about the structureless masses which cover the sky – perhaps these are nimbostratus? Not an expert on clouds but deffo not contrails.

Contrails are a manmade form of cirrus, which can either fade quickly, when the temperature of the air in the troposphere is sinking and/or dry, which suggests that fine weather is likely to persist; if they remain and spread out, it can indicate that the upper air is moist and rising, which happens in advance of a warm front, and indicates there may be rain on the way. Naturally formed cirrus does this, and both will build into a complete cloud cover. Also, contrails contain lots of tiny particles of unburned fuel, soot, metal, etc, which can encourage water droplets and ice crystals to condense around them – cloud seeding, in fact. They’ve also been around for roughly a century! Cirrostratus is a very high, gauzy sort of cover, similar to nimbostratus, which is what you’re thinking of, a featureless, dull, grey and frequently bloody wet, but not causing precipitation, although it can thicken and become nimbostratus.
I love clouds, it’s possible to get a fairly accurate weather forecast just by looking at them; having a copy of the Cloud Spotters Guide helps as well. 😁

Thanks CountZero. I must get that book.

When I lived near London 20 years ago, the sky was always like that. Move to the country.

Also the skies were nicer when the planes were not flying a few years ago.

This is very true.

When that volcano stopped all the aircraft, the sky was completely different.

I don’t know why & excuse the diversion from this excellent topic, but reading through this thread I was struck by some sentences that would make good t-shirt slogans…

Also, anyone still eating cress?

The sky was farther away when I was little.

Don’t you know we’ve had enough of experts… (not specific to this thread, I s’pose)

I’ve noticed a difference in weather (more wind), but it could be in my head.

There’s far more air travel now so it would make sense that you’d see more linear clouds – I remember my daughter asking if they were vapour trails and I thought probably not until we both saw an aircraft leaving a vapour trail that slowly expanded into them.

It was nice when all the planes were grounded, but it’s nice to be able to go anywhere on earth in a day too…