Fake or Not?

[Jeff Miller]

Below find two photographs of actual atmospheric phenomenon. I challenge you to:

1. Tell me if this is what you think it is.
2. Tell me what you are actually seeing.
3. Explain to me the circumustances.
4. Answer if you think this is fake or not.

The answer might surprise you!

I will post the answer tomorrow evening.

 

[MatthewCarman]

Looks like a fire to me in both photo's but I honestly have no idea and so I will leave it at a guess. Be interesting to see what everyone else thinks.

What I am actually seeing looks like a fire and a possible cloud with a funnel.

 

[Marc Austin]

Looks to me like a fire as well. I would say the second picture looks like a "smoke devil" or "smokenado" call it what you want. Basically a weak vortex that has formed near the fire due to the rapid rising motion caused by the heat of the flames. That's my best guess anyway. It will be interesting to see what it really is.

 

[Andrew Pritchard]

I'm gonna agree, certainly looks like smoke to me.

 

[Chris Hayes]

I think there's a forest fire going on below the horizon, and its slowly making its way up the "hill" I highly doubt it's a grass fire, as grass fires dont produce smoke like that.

 

[Brian Stertz]

Just not enough to go on by looking over those pics. It looks to be a bigtime fire but then again...the plumes look fairly "wet". Not sure about this one to be honest. The frames do not have a wide angle look at the environment to determine if other factors are involved. Forensics in this case are inconclusive (and yeah I watch too much CSI).

 

[James Siler]

I agree with the others, smoke from a fire with smoke whirls, nado's what ever you want to call them but again. Smoke.

 

[Jeff Miller]

FACT:

There was no wildfire anywhere near these photographs.

FACT:

The look is "wet" because these ARE clouds, NOT smoke.

Continue your guesses!

 

[MatthewCarman]

No fire huh?

The thin white line would be water and the pictures show clouds with a possible wall cloud in pic 1 with funnels and weak tornadoes or gustnadoes on them.

OR

A dust storm with possible weak tornadoes or gustnadoes on the leading edge of a storm or line of storms.

OR

Lots of rain or hail shafts in those pictures.

 

[Jeff Miller]

Matthew:

Wrong on all counts

 

[Chris Hayes]

Okay, considering it's not a fire, I'll take a stab and say it's the storm on June 13, 2004 near Lincoln Nebraska. I'm probably wront, but it's a guess.

 

[Jeff Miller]

Alright, no one is going to get this, how could they? . so, here it is.

What you are seeing is the plume of condensation/water vapor resulting from a main engine test at the Stennis Space Center in Mississippi. At various times during the test you can observe vortices developing, as well as intense "convection" during the brunt of the test.

These are actual clouds, as the main engines burn clean, and the water sound suppression beneath all engine tests and launches produces enormous cumuliform clouds such as you see here. Pausing the video at certain times shows many rotating effects if you observe closely.

Video

Enjoy! It would be great if there were more "what the heck is this" kind of things like this on here. They are enjoyable, and can be quite a challenge!

 

[Doug Lee]

Makes me wonder what would happen if they ran a test on a day with severe potential. Hmmmmmmm.......