# What did I see; nearly straight up and down smoke column **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [June 19, 2016, 8:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-did-i-see-nearly-straight-up-and-down-smoke-column/757820 "2016-06-19T20:55:17Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 5\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![zuer-coli](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/ba9def/32.png) [@zuer-coli](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/zuer-coli)\ **Post date:** [June 19, 2016, 8:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-did-i-see-nearly-straight-up-and-down-smoke-column/757820/1 "2016-06-19T20:55:17Z")
Dopers all: I am driving East out of Fort Wayne, IN along U.S. 30, toward the Ohio / Indiana State Line. I notice what I take to be a smoke column, there isn’t any wind and so the very regular sides of this column don’t arouse any questioning. The column is quite wide. As time goes on I do not seem to be getting any closer to the “fire”. Those of you who may have gone through that area may recall very gently rolling country, reasonable lines of sight, etc., no extraordinary long views, no being hidden behind a mountain at 3 in the afternoon either. About that time it starts to get dark but the column stays lit up some time after the rest of the terrain is in shadow. I was puzzling this out and don’t think of a plausible answer until much latter; I think I was seeing a Jet Aircraft contrail all spread out; that could account for the very regular sides, the nearly straight appearance, that I didn’t seem to be getting any closer to the source and the lit-up after everything else is in darkness. What astonished me when I came to that conclusion was the apparent width of the contrail, if in fact that is what I saw. What say Dopers? ---
**Author:** ![Colibri](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/colibri/32/1841_2.png) [@Colibri](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Colibri)\ **Post date:** [June 19, 2016, 8:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-did-i-see-nearly-straight-up-and-down-smoke-column/757820/2 "2016-06-19T20:58:29Z")
Moved to IMHO. Colibri General Questions Moderator ---
**Author:** ![Chronos](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chronos/32/134_2.png) [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)\ **Post date:** [June 19, 2016, 10:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-did-i-see-nearly-straight-up-and-down-smoke-column/757820/3 "2016-06-19T22:01:55Z")
Yeah, jet contrails get pretty wide with time. I see no reason to doubt that hypothesis. ---
**Author:** ![zuer-coli](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/ba9def/32.png) [@zuer-coli](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/zuer-coli)\ **Post date:** [June 20, 2016, 2:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-did-i-see-nearly-straight-up-and-down-smoke-column/757820/4 "2016-06-20T02:40:40Z")
> [@Colibri](#): > > Moved to IMHO. > > Colibri > General Questions Moderator Thanks again, still have trouble trying to figure out which forum is the proper one, respectfuly sometimes I question how x thread got where it did and why y thread stayed where it did. Be that as it may, I could not do the job of Moderator, so I am glad someone is willing. Zuer-coli ---
**Author:** ![zuer-coli](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/ba9def/32.png) [@zuer-coli](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/zuer-coli)\ **Post date:** [June 20, 2016, 2:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-did-i-see-nearly-straight-up-and-down-smoke-column/757820/5 "2016-06-20T02:46:34Z")
> [@Chronos](#): > > Yeah, jet contrails get pretty wide with time. I see no reason to doubt that hypothesis. Thank you, On a personal note; I find your comments to be amoung the more informed on many subjects. Zuer-coli