New research: Prop planes pop clouds and create snow

[mikea]

Look at as spreading the icing around to the folks on the ground

When aircraft fly though certain clouds, they can trigger a chain of events that causes precipitation for miles around, according to a study in the journal Science.

The idea for the study came in 2007, when a plane full of weather scientists flew through a very odd snowstorm near Denver International Airport.

The storm was unusual because it produced only a narrow strip of snow leading from the runway, says Andrew Heymsfield, a senior scientist at the National Center for Atmospheric Research and one of the study's authors.

So the scientists did some research on the storm, Heymsfield says. And they found that the narrow band of snow they'd flown through followed the exact flight track of two turboprop aircraft that had taken off a few minutes earlier.

"The quite amazing thing was that their flight track actually produced about an inch of snow at the ground," he says.

http://www.npr.org/2011/06/30/137521577/snow-delay-at-the-airport-blame-planes-and-clouds

http://www.livescience.com/14855-airplanes-weather-hole-punch-clouds-precipitation.html

Photo gallery: http://www.mnn.com/earth-matters/climate-weather/stories/how-airplanes-alter-the-weather

http://www.livescience.com/14841-hole-punch-clouds-gallery-formations-cut-airplanes.html

 

[wsuffa]

SO now you're saying it's not just global warming...

 

[mikea]

SO now you're saying it's not just global warming...

Nah. It's just those propeller planes that started flying a lot in the last ten years.

 

[bsdunek]

Guilty as charged! Tomorrow I'm going to see if I can cause more snow. If it works in July, I may believe it.

 

[Jaybird180]

This article indicates that it's commercial (jet) traffic causing the phenomenon:
http://news.discovery.com/earth/a-cloud-mystery-takes-flight-110630.html#mkcpgn=rssnws1

 

[Skylane81E]

if a butterfly flaps it's wings...