(Image by Jeff Schmaltz, MODIS Rapid Response Team, Goddard Space Flight Center.)

On January 29, 2007, strange cloud formations appeared over parts of Texas, Arkansas, and Louisiana.

“This strange phenomenon,” explains NASA's Earth Observatory, “resulted from a combination of cold temperatures, air traffic, and perhaps unusual atmospheric stability. The cloud blanket on January 29 consisted of supercooled clouds. Supercooled clouds contain water droplets that remain liquid even though the temperature is well below freezing, and such clouds are not unusual. According to the Cooperative Institute for Meteorological Satellite Studies (CIMSS) Satellite Blog, cloud-top temperatures ranged from –20 to –35 degrees Celsius. As aircraft from the Dallas-Fort Worth airport passed through these clouds, tiny particles in the exhaust came into contact with the supercooled water droplets, which froze instantly. The larger ice crystals fell out of the cloud deck, leaving behind the 'holes,' while the tiniest ice particles in the center remained aloft.”

Of course, we would also have believed a report telling us that Cy Twombly, Pruned's favorite 20th century painter, was simply putting together an atmospheric installation art for Houston's Menil Collection with a hijacked Boeing 747.


(Cy Twombly, Leda and the Swan.)


(Cy Twombly, Untitled (Rome).)


(Cy Twombly, The Italians.)


(Cy Twombly, Untitled.)

(See also The Geostationary Banana Over Texas.)