[meteorite-list] smoke ring

From: Paul G. Spears <pgspears_at_meteoritecentral.com>
Date: Wed, 30 Sep 2009 10:52:45 -0700
Message-ID: <DD37A32F6753413CA5D4CF941F0C8741_at_GrandpasNetbook>

Hi, Listees:
Marco wrote: That actually does look like the real deal (*if* the
photographs belong to the
report and are not generic footage): a sunlit wind-blown dust trail left by
a
bolide.

Living in Flagstaff, Arizona, around 1962-1963, I saw a huge smoke ring (2-3
miles in diameter??), moving from west to east, north of the city at a very
high altitude, but no tail was evident. Never saw an official explanation
of the ring, but wonder now if this may have been an explosion similar to
the one in Marco's link. Does anyone have any info on that event? The date
of the smoke ring was well after Holbrook, Gold Basin, and Franconia it
appears, so has a fall been recorded in northwest Arizona area around
1962/1963 that could have generated that ring?

Just curious. The size of the ring and the way it retained its
configuration as it drifted east made me think it was extremely high and
extremely unusual. A local man claimed he was hunting west of Flagstaff
and saw a group of angels accelerate upward at an impossible rate causing an
updraft that carried moisture into the stratosphere and condensed into the
ring. You gotta believe an eyewitness, right?
Keep looking up,
Paul
Received on Wed 30 Sep 2009 01:52:45 PM PDT