A Reddit user recently posted a video showing an unusual streak in the sky, sparking a wave of speculation online. The video, shared in the r/weather subreddit, shows what appears to be a thick, lingering trail cutting across the clouds.
Despite the hypothesizing, meteorologists and aviation experts have long confirmed that contrails, or condensation trails, are a well-documented phenomenon with a simple explanation — water vapor from engines that condenses into small, lightweight ice crystals.
The National Weather Service says that depending on atmospheric conditions — particularly humidity and temperature — contrails can either dissipate quickly or expand into what are essentially wispy cirrus clouds that remain for hours. Some Redditors also suggested what the video showed could simply be natural cloud formations.
The original poster was nonetheless quick to raise concerns, with the caption highlighting recent aviation policy changes and wondering if they could be connected to the strange sight, while other Redditors turned to more logical explanations.
The video appeared to show what could be a persistent contrail, which forms when hot exhaust from aircraft engines meets cold, moist air, creating ice crystals that linger in the sky.
One commenter guessed that since the video seems to have been filmed "around dusk or just after sunset," it could also be crepuscular rays "attempting to peek through thick clouds." These rays are caused by particles in the atmosphere that can scatter light passing through clouds as the sun rises or sets.
The original poster questioned whether unmarked planes were deliberately altering weather patterns, a theory often associated with conspiracy narratives.
Some Redditors pushed back against the more alarmist take. One commenter said, "That could be a lot of things. Potentially a weak shelf cloud [also called an arcus cloud] or a roll cloud. Certainly nothing particularly unusual-looking, contrary to your weirdly conspiratorial description."
Another user backed this idea and reasoning by saying, "Jet trails can look differently based on conditions in the upper atmosphere."
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Yes — always đŸ’¯ While aviation policy changes have raised legitimate concerns about safety and oversight, there is no credible evidence linking them to streaks in the sky that would have any nefarious purpose. The increase in videos like this highlights the need for clear, science-backed explanations of everyday weather phenomena — because sometimes, a cloud is just a cloud.
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