The presence of at least three of the different cloud formation is strong evidence that the major axis of the jet stream, a narrow shaft of high-speed winds of vital importance to aviation and weather experts, is high overhead. Dr. Vincent J. Schaefer, famed general Electric Company weather scientist said in a paper presented to the American Meteorological Society that chains of weather stations across the country might establish the location and direction of the main axis of the swift wind stream by observing and reporting the formation of these cloud clues. The cloud types, photographed by D. Schaefer, are: At upper left, altocumulus - fleecy formation with lens-shaped clouds piled layer on layer at altitudes of about 20,000 feet. At upper right - Cirrus streamers, white feathery wisps with tufted trails seen moving at high speed and at high altitudes. At lower left - cirrocumulus - small white rounded clouds patches that sometimes shift rapidly to cirrus streamers. They often take on tints of green and red near the sun. Lower right - Billowing altocumulus, clouds that often extend from horizon to horizon, with parallel waves running at right angles to the direction of air flow.

General Electric Company1953-01-19