While the title of this post is “How to Debunk Chemtrails”, the actual debunking depends on what version of the theory needs debunking.

The most common version is simply that “normal” contrails should not persist, so the persistent trails must be “chemtrails”. The simplest way to debunk this is to note that all known books on clouds and weather say that contrails sometimes persist. As seen in this video:



With discussion and reference here:

https://www.metabunk.org/threads/debunking-contrails-dont-persist-with-a-study-of-60-years-of-books-on-clouds.3201/

After that, there’s a variety of common claims and variations on those themes. The best approach is to debunk the individual claim (such as contrails only last a few seconds), rather than trying to debunk the entire theory.

I’ve tried to arrange each section in the order of most useful links first.

Contrails Through History

Theorists claim Contrails used to dissipate in a few seconds, minutes at most.

But they didn’t. There’s a huge amount of evidence (in addition to lots of people remembering persistent contrails). It dates back to 1918 and continues up to the present day.

Contrail photos through history – Fifty photos of persisting and spreading contrails from 1950 to 1995. Taken from people’s old photo albums, and old books. Also links to other similar collections.

Life Magazine Contrail Photos – Eleven photos that appeared in Life Magazine from 1940 to 1998 show persisting and spreading contrails.

WWII Contrails – A large collection of photos showing persisting and spreading contrails from WWII in the 1940s.

Pre WWII Contrails – The History of contrails dating back to 1918, with the first persistent spreading contrail observed in 1921

Some more WWII Contrails – A WWII contrail photo I found in an old photo album uploaded to Flickr.

Thirty Contrails, Forty Years Ago – An impressive photo of a sky full of contrails from before 1967.

Clouds before Planes – Cloud Studies 1905 – A 100-year-old book showing photos of clouds that some chemtrail enthusiasts think must be man-made.

Memphis Belle WWII Bomber Contrails – 1944 – A 1940s film that shows planes leaving contrails, including with gaps in them.

Fighter and Bomber Contails, 1940s – Video and photos of wartime contrails over London and the English countryside

Twilight Zone Contrails – Contrails show up in a 1959 episode of The Twilight Zone

Chemtrails were Contrails – A video of some old newspaper accounts of contrails.

Contrail Confusion is Nothing New – Accounts from the 1950s of people being confused by contrails – taking them to be something else.

Chemical Tests, Aluminum, Barium, Etc.

Theorist claim: Chemical tests reveal aluminum and barium have been sprayed

In reality, the tests all show normal levels of chemicals. They were often very badly performed (testing soil instead of water, and confusing the level, or using the wrong units of measurements).

What In The World Are They Spraying? – An explanation of the mistakes in the popular chemtrail video.

Barium Chemtrails on KSLA – A very popular “chemtrail” news story where the reporter gets his figures entirely wrong.

Chemtrail Non-science Air analysis from Phoenix that shows levels so high we’d all be dead. They did it wrong.

Chemical Analysis of Contrails – Clifford Carnicom claims high levels of some chemicals, but they actually show lower than normal levels.

Photos and Video used by chemtrail theorists

Theorists claim: Photos and videos show spray planes.

Reality: all the planes have been identified. Most have non-controversial uses, and the rest are demonstrable fakes.

“Chemtrail” Aircraft Photos – The inside and outside of various supposed “Chemtrail” planes. Explained.

Fake, Hoax, Chemtrail Videos – Some of the more obvious hoax videos.

Germans Admit They Used Düppel!

– A German news story about chaff interfering with weather radar is deliberately mistranslated.

History Channel, That’s Impossible, Weather Warfare & Chemtrails – a look as some of the claims on the Discover channel show on chemtrails.

Contrails In the Movies – A look at a couple of contrails in some animated movies.

About the Chemtrail theory

Theorist claim: Lots of people believe in chemtrails, and it’s mentioned in a government bill, so it must be true.

Reality: Not really. Lots of people believe in all kinds of things, and the mention in the bill was inserted by some UFO enthusiasts.

A brief history of “Chemtrails” – How it got started in 1997, who started it, and how it developed.

Chemtrail Myths – Five common myths about “chemtrails”

How many people believe in chemtrails? – just how popular is the theory? Not very.

Kucinich, Chemtrails and HR 2977 – The supposed outlawing of chemtrails. What really happened.

General Discussion of Chemtrails

Theorist claim: People don’t remember lots of contrails like this, so it must be new.

Reality: Many people DO remember. But most people still don’t pay any attention to contrails. You see things more when you are interested in them.

Hazy Memories of Blue Skies – What do people remember about contrails? It varies.

Where are all the Chemtrail Photos?

Chemtrails: The Best Evidence

People Don’t Notice Contrails

The amount of air traffic, grids, and contrail patterns

Theorist claim: grids and X patterns prove they can’t be contrails

Reality: grids and X’s are inevitable results of air traffic, and winds and weather conditions.

Britain From Above – Air Traffic

30 Years of Airline Travel

Contrail Grids are not Chemtrail Grids

There are a lot of jets in the air

Contrail Information

Theorists claim: “chemtrails” are not contrails, because contrails don’t act like that

Reality: Contrails sometimes persist and spread, it depends on the weather at 30,000 feet (and not on the ground)

Persisting and Spreading Contrails

Contrail Forecast

The opposite of contrails

Measuring the height of contrails

How Long do Contrails Last?

Contrail to Distrail

Contrail Simulations

Why do some planes leave long trails, but others don’t?

Chemtrail Plausibility Study

Why Planes Make Vapor Trails

Unusual contrails explained

Theorists claim: odd looking contrails prove they are not contrails.

Reality: all can be explained if you do a bit of research.

Hole Punch Clouds in Los Angeles

Contrail Gaps and other Questions

Broken Contrails

Contrails, Dark Lines, & “Chemtrails”

Contrail of the Day

Very Unusual Short Tapered Contrails

Early Contrails

Voodoo Contrails over Los Angeles

Contrails Above and Below

Racetrack Contrails

Short Sunlit Contrails Look Like UFOs

Aerodynamic and Rainbow Contrails

Identifying a Curved Contrail

Contrail Season in Los Angeles

Ground Level Contrails

The Los Angeles Mystery Missile Contrail, and similar

New Mystery Missile, Padre Island Texas. Debunked

Did Chemtrails Cause the Beebe Blackbird Deaths

Manu Ginobili’s Santa Monica Silver Surfer

Los Angeles Missile Contrail Explained in Pictures

Contrails are Usually Horizontal

A Problem of Perspective – New Year’s Eve Contrail

Other random stuff

Procrustean Science

Contrails and Chemtrails: The IFAQ

Volcano Clears the Skies of Contrails

AC-130 Flares and Chaff

A Very Unusual Contrail

Modern Contrail Confusion

Cirrus Uncinus and Contrails

Things are not as they seem