On Fri, 13 Dec 2019 22:25:07 +0000, Ahem A Rivet's Shot wrote:

> On Fri, 13 Dec 2019 19:07:58 -0000 (UTC)
> Martin Gregorie  wrote:
>
>> The effect was attributed to the lack of jet contrails, which normally
>> lower the average temp by preventing sunlight from reaching the ground
>> during the day and prevent it radiating into space at night. Here's a
>> summary:
>
>  I find it very hard to believe that there's enough contrail
> coverage to have that effect.
>
So did I at the time, but it was much discussed amongst US glider pilots
when those numbers were published and the consensus among them was that
it was about right. IIRC some of then went soaring during the shutdown
and thought conditions were pretty good. The shutdown didn't affect GA
and sailplanes, much as the UK shutdown due to the Islandic volcano
didn't affect GA and gliding here.

FWIW One of my gliding club's members, an airline pilot at the time, flew
a cross-country triangle, during the shutdown, with Stanstead and Luton
as turnpoints just because she could. She knew that would probably be her
only chance to do it and to talk to their towers while doing it. I bet
she knew the controllers too, which would have made it irresistible.


--
Martin    | martin at
Gregorie  | gregorie dot org

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