KTRV Fox 12 Contrails vs. Chemtrails

Contrails vs. Chemtrails

Boise, Idaho -- Are government jets spraying dangerous chemicals on us?

Some people who looked up in the sky over the Treasure Valley Tuesday might have thought so.

"Well, I got up this morning at about 8:30, just when the sun was coming up between 8 and 8:30, and I noticed a contrail, chemtrail going from the southeast to the southwest, probably 250 miles at about 55,000 feet," explained Art Hill.

Hill was just one of many people who saw the contrails, or condensation trails, and called into Fox 12 news to make the report.

You may have noticed him refer them as chemtrails -- a term used by some people who believe government jets are in some cases intentionally spraying harmful chemicals on those of us below.

As ex military, Hill saw this type of activity in Vietnam, but that involved agent orange and it was sprayed at much lower altitudes.

He says one way you can still determine if they're actually chemtrails is how long they stay around.

"You can watch that for an extended period of time, where the condensation will dissipate in 10 to 15 minutes," Hill explained.

He believes the trails were created by military jets spraying chemicals.

Theories like this are popping up all over and, of course, nowhere has it become more prominent than the Internet.

"So there are some truths mixed in with the lies in here," says a man named "Kurt" on a website called www.sendarope.com.

The man, who refers to himself as simply a free citizen of America, has looked over the explanation of contrails, which essentially involves cold-humid air at high altitudes which jet engines then turn into clouds.

"Let's say that's true. Well, can you explain why over deserts, where there's almost no humidity at all, these contrails persist and grow?" Kurt asks his Internet viewers.

But ask any meteorologist and what you'll find out, is the atmosphere, even over desert climates, can be much colder and even humid at very high altitudes.

"I have personally taken UFO reports while I lived in Arizona on contrails being produced by UFOs," said Leo Geis.

A former air traffic controller, Geis says the reason for contrails is very simple, and it never has anything to do with dangerous chemicals.

"They are a product of the hot exhaust of a hot engine and the very cold ambient air at 39,000 feet or 41,000 feet above sea level."

Geis says it makes no sense that the trails would be chemicals.

For one, they're too high and would have no affect on people so far below. Also, most of them continue well into uninhabited sections of the state, and almost all of them are coming from commercial jetliners.

"That's what we call a clue. The airlines are not going to do something like that. I'm very certain their PR people would nix that in a hurry," said Geis.

So his advice?

"I certainly wouldn't worry about it if I were anybody."