A contemplation of changing skies above Welliington

I am not making any rash conclusions. These are simply my reflections and contemplation based on what I am observing.

I have full faith in that much.

Looking up at the sky

Seemorerocks

When I was a young fellow I was a stargazer. I could identify most of the constellations in the sky. In fact I was quite adept at it. I could tell you what the ‘seeing’ was – what magnitude one could see down to - 6^th magnitude was what was considered the limit for the naked eye.

Cloudy nights were are nuisance, as was the Full Moon.

Since then I have kept a bit of eye on things. 20 years ago the skies were dark and one could easily see the Milky Way in the suburbs of Wellington.

I can certainly relate then, to the following:

"Not all that long ago, the sky was simple, beautiful, and usually clear. Not only were most days clear, but nights were almost always clear. Regardless of the weather during the day, you could normally rely on having a perfectly clear night for viewing the stars.

"In school, we were taught the reason for clear nights, namely, no warm-updrafts.

"In the daytime, the sun warms the land. The warm land warms the air above it and causes it to rise. When these large, warm mushrooms of air push upward into the cooler layer above it, water condenses forming well-defined, rolling cumulous clouds.

"At night, the lack of sunlight eliminates these warm updrafts eliminating the creation of clouds."

The clouds that I remember from the Canterbury of my youth were more like this  even if the Wellington clouds were a bit more dark and menacing. In Wellington when the skies were clear they were beautiful.

However, in recent years I have noticed changes.

Firstly, even if one is away from city lights and pollution one can only see very few stars - in my estimation only down to 2d or 3rd magnitude instead of 5th or 6th. Recently, on a clear night we travelled up into the hills beyond the lights and observed the same phenomenon.

Secondly, there are very few completely clear days or nights, The clouds are simply NOT what they once were.  My memories are pretty clear about this. Had I the foreknowledge of what I now observe I may have taken a bit more notice.

Generally I can relate to these observations:

"Clouds used to be fascinating.

"They were sharp and well-defined. They rolled and moved with artistic intention and inherent creativity. Their distinct, white borders contrasted the deep-blue sky with striking beauty and individual purpose.

"Today, clouds are unfocused and undefined. They meander the sky following each other with numbing mindlessness. Their indistinct, gray borders blend into the pale blue forming an endless desert of indistinct color.

"Cloud-watching used to be amazing. Enormous, shape shifting structures continually redefined themselves with razor-precision. Today, watching clouds is like watching smoke spill endlessly from a smokestack."

Taken on a different continent I can relate to the following photos. This is, by-and-large what the open skies of Canterbury looked like.

 

I have long noticed the changes to the weather and to the skies but I must admit that since I listened to Dr.Naomi Wolf I have been paying more attention.

The following pictures that I took this evening illustrate what I have been observing.

Take particular note of the higher, elongated cloud formation

Unless my memory is completely failing me we have not had these sorts of skies before.

At this stage I prefer to just share my observations even if I know that younger people who have very short memories will question me.

I certainly don't want to jump to any premature conclusions - not least because I have not observed any of the contrails that people associate with this in our skies. I guess our southern skies are not as full of aircraft crisscrossing the sky like in North America.

Put the message aside and watch the following video. 

What I see are skies that are very similar to what I am seeing in Wellington

Certainly, what I am seeing in the sky is not 'normal'. I have only two possible explanations for this.

Either this reflects changes from abrupt climate change with a greater degree of water vapour in the atmosphere, or there is indeed some form of geoengineering already going on, involving spraying that has radically changed the atmosphere.

As I have said before, I do not think that the two explanations are contradictory. There is no reason why both phenomena cannot be occurring simultaneously - the one as a hair-brained scheme to respond to the other that is doomed not only to failure but will lead to the accelerated demise of humanity through the ultimate removal of global dimming though the rapid collapse of industrial civilisation as a result of abrupt climate change.