Do persistent contrails make altocumulus clouds?
Persistent contrails develop at a high cloud level as opposed to the altocumulus clouds that develop at the middle level. In addition, the persistent contrails that linger are often spread out into a thin and wispy appearance characteristic of cirrus clouds. Therefore, contrails actually can produce cirrus clouds. This is actually one of the areas which scientists are looking at: how often do contrails spread into natural cirrus-looking patterns. Sometimes, it is difficult to determine whether a cirrus cloud has developed naturally or as a result of the spreading of a contrail.
