A mysterious black vertical line in the sky of Kent, England, has left experts and residents baffled about where it came from. This strange phenomenon was captured yesterday morning in Folkestone by a woman who "could not believe" what she had encountered. This long, shadowy line was visible just above the Eurotunnel on Ashford Road, extending all the way up to "as far as the eye could see."
The sky was fairly clear, and the Sun shone directly when the photo was captured. However, as per the weather forecast, thunderstorms were expected later in the day. The woman who took the initial photograph mentioned, "I saw the line and took a photo to make sure it wasn't my eyes deceiving me! I honestly have no idea what it could be. It was such a straight line, so it wasn't smoke from a crash or something like that."
Black Vertical Line Seen Over Kent Sends Viewers In A Tizzy
The resident of Folkestone snapped this picture of the black vertical line from her car, which was parked near the roundabout along the A260. She was quite surprised that nobody else had mentioned it. She stated, "The line went up as far as the eye could see. It went way past the clouds. I am hoping that someone else could shed some light on it. I can't be the only one that saw it."
This phenomenon also puzzled Jeremy Procter, a weather observer. He commented, "It's a very interesting photo. The line is definitely not any type of cloud. It is interesting that it appears to be partially obscured by a cloud in the middle and upper parts of the photo, indicating that it was not really an optical fault."
For those curious, Mr. Procter has his weather station at home and has already submitted a monthly weather report to the Sittingbourne Messenger.
He commented, "Noticing the tail lighting tower on the right of the picture, in certain light circumstances with the Sun behind, you can get a shadow effect. That's the best possible explanation I can suggest!" One of the spokespersons from Eurotunnel also verified that the black vertical line was not originating from their site.
Not The First Time This Line Was Spotted
In 2013, a Daily Mail report also discussed a similar black line observed in Florida. Mike Clay, the chief meteorologist at Bay News 9, a local station, was completely puzzled by this strange vertical line descending from a cloud. He shared the pictures with some colleagues, and one of them suggested that the dark line might have been a contrail shadow. For unfamiliar people, a contrail is the condensation trail typically left behind by jet aircraft. It forms when hot, humid air from the jet exhaust mixes with the colder environmental air of lower temperature and vapor pressure.
A similar occurrence was experienced by Mike Weight in Florida while he was walking on the beach around 12:30 PM. It was a sunny and bright day, but thunderclouds were forming from the east.
The 73-year-old individual remarked, "I was looking North when I observed what looked like a ray of dark light coming down from a small cloud to the surface of the Gulf about a half-mile away."
The man further mentioned that the line remained in the sky for approximately a minute before fading away. The Clearwater resident had sent a couple of pictures showcasing this mysterious phenomenon to the newspaper, hoping that someone would be able to identify it.
Speaking to the papers, Weight mentioned, "At first, I thought it was an optical illusion because it was like a dark piece of sky with a light sky background. You could see through it."
Due to the increase in water spout sightings in the area, the individual initially considered the phenomenon a funnel cloud. However, that explanation did not seem to fit. It was only when Mike Clay solved the mystery that the true nature of the phenomenon became clear.
