FRESNO, Calif. (KSEE/KPGE) – A long band of darkness could be seen stretching to the ground over Fresno on Monday afternoon.
YourCentralValley.com captured an image of the phenomenon from Highway 41 around 2:30 p.m.
At first it appeared to be leftover fuel from a jet, but the 60-degree angle appeared too steep, so we spoke to our meteorologist, AJ Fox, to find out more.
He confirmed that it was a shadow cast by the contrails of an aircraft. These shadow rays, he says, are the opposite of the more widely seen crepuscular rays (also known as God’s fingers, sunbeams) that scatter sunlight through the gaps in clouds…