The Cause of the Cloud

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The Cloud: Just the Facts • Intro • Prophesied? • Location? • Cause? • Timing?

The Cloud (Part 2) - What Caused The Cloud?.

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Page 112 of the May 1963 edition of Life Magazine

The Arizona Cloud of February 28, 1963

At around sunset on February 28, 1963, an unusual cloud appeared in the vicinity of Flagstaff, Arizona and remained sunlit for 28 minutes after sunset. It attracted significant scientific attention, appearing in the May 1963 edition of Life Magazine, Science Magazine (April 19, 1963), Weatherwise Magazine (June 1963), and an independent scientific report issued May 31, 1963.

Dr. James E. McDonald of the Institute of Atmospheric Physics at the University of Arizona initially estimated the cloud's altitude at approximately 35 kilometers, later revising that figure to approximately 43 kilometers (141,000 feet). Despite his investigation, no conclusive public explanation was offered at the time.

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What Does the Cloud Mean?

Followers of William Branham's message view the cloud as supernatural — the fulfillment of a December 1962 vision in which Branham foresaw seven angels meeting him outside Tucson, Arizona (see Prophecy of the Cloud).. They connect it to his subsequent opening of the Seven Seals and regard it as divine confirmation of his prophetic ministry.

Critics take a different view entirely. They argue the cloud has a straightforward natural explanation: it was the debris from a Thor rocket intentionally destroyed over Vandenberg Air Force Base earlier that same day. More significantly, critics argue that Branham's own testimony about being present at the cloud's formation is demonstrably false — a story that emerged only after he saw the Life Magazine photograph, and that directly contradicts verifiable facts about the cloud's location and timing.

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The Scientific Explanation

On February 28, 1963, a thrust-assisted Thor rocket was launched from pad 75-3-5 at Vandenberg Air Force Base in California, carrying a Keyhole 4 military surveillance satellite. The rocket veered off course and was intentionally destroyed at an altitude of 44 kilometers (144,000 feet) at 1:52 p.m.

Several lines of evidence connect the rocket to the cloud:

1. Same day. The rocket was destroyed on the same day the cloud appeared.
2. Same altitude. The rocket was destroyed at 44 kilometers; the cloud was independently estimated at 43 kilometers — a near-exact match.
3. Consistent wind speeds. No wind speed data was recorded at Vandenberg on that specific day, but Dr. McDonald noted that wind speeds measured at comparable altitudes at other times were "tantalizingly close" to what would have been required to carry debris from Vandenberg to Flagstaff. Since wind speeds vary by location and altitude, these measurements are consistent with a transport scenario, not proof against one.
4. Military confirmation. When launch records were later declassified, the United States Air Force released documentation confirming that the cloud resulted from a military rocket operation.

In March 2012 NASA made some clouds in the morning sky with a shape and height similar to the February 1963 cloud.

Dr. McDonald initially noted that clouds do not normally form at mesospheric altitudes — but subsequent research demonstrated that visible exhaust clouds from rocket launches can indeed reach into the mesosphere. NASA has since created similar high-altitude clouds in chemical experiments, and some closely resemble the shape photographed on February 28 — appearing without any visible exhaust trail back to the launch site.

Today, rocket launches from Vandenberg are routinely documented on video. Depending on atmospheric conditions, they can be seen from Tucson and beyond, leaving mesospheric clouds that remain illuminated well after sunset. This kind of direct visual evidence was simply unavailable in 1963.

Scientists also linked similar clouds appearing later in 1963 to rocket launches:

A bright noctilucent cloud was observed and photographed northwest of Tucson on 15 June 1963. Results of computations indicate that the cloud was at a height of 71 kilometers. The cloud appears to have resulted from the launching of a Scout space vehicle.

Measurement of the filamentary noctilucent cloud of 2 November 1963 yields a height of 56 km. Study of the motion and orientation of the cloud confirms the hypothesis that these unusual clouds appearing in the southwestern states are produced by the launching of rocket vehicles from the Pacific Missile Range.

Why Didn't Dr. McDonald Publish a Final Report?

Dr. McDonald was senior physicist at the Institute of Atmospheric Physics and professor of meteorology at the University of Arizona. He was also well known for his serious investigation of UFO reports — which makes him an unlikely candidate to shelve a genuinely unexplained phenomenon simply out of disinterest. The most natural explanation for his failure to publish a final report is that he arrived at a sufficient explanation — the rocket — and didn't consider that conclusion publishable as a scientific finding. A researcher who made his reputation pursuing phenomena that defied conventional science would not have quietly dropped the subject if it remained genuinely mysterious.

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Dr. McDonald's Own Assessment

In April 1967, Dr. McDonald wrote a letter to The Arizona Republic that leaves no ambiguity about his conclusions:

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THE ARIZONA REPUBLIC — Wednesday, April 5, 1967

Mysterious Cloud Formation Vanishes Under Examination

Editor, The Arizona Republic:

The March 26 issue of your Sunday supplement, Arizona, carried an article by Reporter Dave Davies, entitled "The Cloud," concerning a very unusual stratospheric cloud formation that appeared over Flagstaff on Feb. 28, 1963.

My investigations of that cloud are quoted in part, but a number of aspects of my findings were omitted or overlooked, so that the supernatural and religious construction that has been put on that event was improperly supported.

I am quoted as "frankly skeptical," as if to suggest that I am half-convinced, half-unconvinced by the occult interpretation. I am, in fact, wholly unconvinced and regard the entire business as quite distressing.

IT IS NOT CORRECT that the cloud "swept northward across Arizona." It moved in from almost due west. If Mr. Sothman saw anything which he thought to be a "strange circular-shaped cloud rise into the air" over Branham's head, he is clearly talking about some other cloud than that of Feb. 28 over Flagstaff.

Sothman is quoted as asserting that "it was kind of small at first, but the higher it rose the bigger it became." The observations of scores of reliable witnesses disinclined to pseudo-religious interpretations attest to the fact that the Flagstaff cloud appeared and disappeared without significant overall size or shape change.

Rev. Pearry Green, cited in the article, asserted to me (in a phone conversation in which I pointed out many discrepancies in the occult interpretation he and others seek to place on this event) that the "seven angels," after speaking to Rev. Branham, flew up into the sky and assumed the form of this cloud which, he claims, outlined the face of Christ to Branham.

AS A MATTER of fact, the photograph which accompanied the recent article as alleged documentation of this angelic revelation constitutes a projection entirely different from that which an observer would have seen in Branham's reported location in the Sunset Mountain area.

From the latter area, as also from Tucson where I myself saw it, the cloud bore absolutely no resemblance to any face. Rev. Mr. Green asserts that "facial features" can be seen in the inside of the cloud. When I told him no such features are detectable on the original prints, and when I asked for sample copies of the prints which he claimed showed such features, I never received any copies to examine.

And the amusing matter of the satellite cloud, west of Flagstaff, which shows on numerous photos taken from eastern Arizona and New Mexico, but which Branham's group did not know about until I confronted Green with it, seems to go a long way towards exposing the irrationality of the religious interpretations.

DAVIES OMITTED all mention of data I gave him on the detonation of a rocket at Vandenberg Air Force Base at almost precisely the elevation of that cloud, about four hours earlier that day. Although there do indeed remain difficulties in explaining that cloud, supernaturalism ought not be even a last resort.

Let's keep the Middle Ages back where they belong.

JAMES E. MCDONALD, Professor, UofA, Institute of Atmospheric Physics

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Why Wasn't the Cloud Visible Before Sunset?

The cloud sat at approximately 43 kilometers altitude — well into the mesosphere. At that height, it remained illuminated by direct sunlight even after the sun dropped below the horizon for ground observers. This is exactly the same optical geometry that makes noctilucent clouds visible at twilight: the lower atmosphere falls into shadow first, while objects at very high altitude continue to catch oblique sunlight for some time afterward. The 28-minute post-sunset illumination period is entirely consistent with a mesospheric cloud and requires no supernatural explanation.

This also accounts for why the cloud wasn't noticed earlier. High-altitude clouds of this type are too faint to be seen against a bright daytime sky. They become visible only once the background sky darkens enough at dusk. A cloud present at 43 kilometers since 1:52 p.m. could easily have gone unobserved until twilight.

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The Second Cloud

Science Magazine April 1963 page 292

Science Magazine April 1963 page 293

Science Magazine April 1963 page 294

The April 1963 Science Magazine article documented a second cloud visible in photographs taken from eastern Arizona and New Mexico, appearing to the northwest of the main cloud. Dr. McDonald raised this himself in his 1967 letter, noting that Branham's group was unaware of it until he confronted Pearry Green with the photographic evidence.

This poses a direct problem for the supernatural interpretation. If the main cloud formed from angels ascending after their meeting with Branham, what produced the second cloud? A companion cloud is exactly what one would expect from a rocket debris field dispersed across diverging high-altitude wind currents. It fits no version of the angelic account.

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Problems with the Spiritual Interpretation

The chronological and geographical facts present serious, unresolved difficulties for those who believe the cloud was a supernatural sign connected to Branham's angelic visitation.

1. Location mismatch. The cloud appeared near Flagstaff. Branham's reported angelic visitation occurred at Rattlesnake Mesa near Sunset Mountain — roughly 200 miles away. If the cloud was meant to mark the event, it appeared in the wrong place.

2. Branham claimed to be standing under it. He said this explicitly and repeatedly. He was approximately 200 miles from where the cloud actually appeared.

3. The timing is backwards. Branham stated that the cloud formed as the angels left him. The cloud appeared on February 28. By his own account, the angelic visitation happened on March 8 — eight days later. A cloud cannot be the result of an event that had not yet occurred.

4. No mention until the magazine. Branham said nothing about any connection between the cloud and his angelic visitation until after someone showed him the Life Magazine photograph. If he had been present at the cloud's formation — or even aware of its significance — this silence is inexplicable.

5. The magazine's location. Branham claimed the magazine article was describing the same location where he was hunting. It was not.

6. The face in the cloud. Message believers have claimed the photograph shows a face. Dr. McDonald examined the original prints and found no such features. When he asked Pearry Green for copies of the prints that supposedly showed them, none were ever provided.

7. Which direction was the face looking? If the cloud bore the face of Christ, the photograph shows it oriented toward Las Vegas — not toward Branham's location.

Some message ministers have attempted to resolve the timing problem by claiming Branham said privately that the angels had been waiting a week before he arrived. This doesn't hold up. The statement appears nowhere in Branham's recorded sermons and cannot be verified. More critically, it directly contradicts Branham's own public account — that the cloud formed when the angels left, not when they arrived. A private, unrecorded explanation that contradicts the public record should carry very little weight.

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Key Documents

1. Declassified 1963 02 28 Thor launch record
2. Declassified 1963 02 28 Pitch Pine launch record
3. University of Arizona letter of June 5, 1980
4. 1995 01 26 Air Force letter - page 1 and page 2
5. 1996 08 23 letter from Mrs. Meinel
6. 1996 09 10 letter from Mrs. MacDonald

Video Script

At dusk on February 28, 1963, a cloud appeared in the skies above Flagstaff, Arizona and remained sunlit for 28 minutes after sunset. It was highlighted in the May 1963 edition of Life Magazine. William Branham explained that the cloud was part of the fulfillment of a vision that he had in December 1962.

IT.IS.THE.RISING.OF.THE.SUN_ JEFF.IN V-3 N-12 SUNDAY_ 65-0418M

Later, the Angels appeared as was prophesied. And at the same time, a great cluster of Light left where I was standing, and moved thirty miles high in the air, and around the circle, like the wings of the Angels, and drawed into the skies a shape of a pyramid in the same constellation of Angels that appeared.

Science took the picture, all the way from Mexico, as it moved from northern Arizona, where the Holy Spirit said I would be standing, "forty miles northeast of Tucson." And it went into the air, and Life magazine packed the pictures,

William Branham said that the angels appeared to him while he was standing in northern Arizona, and that when they left him they created a cloud that was pictured in the Life Magazine.

There are a few problems with this.

First, forty miles northeast of Tucson is not northern Arizona. Go get a map and measure it for yourself. The southern tip of the cloud was just north of Flagstaff when the photo was taken. Flagstaff is in northern Arizona, and Tucson is in Southern Arizona.

Second, the cloud that appeared in Life Magazine was photographed one week before William Branham went hunting. William Branham’s daughter Rebecca Smith confirmed this in an article she wrote called “Return to Sunset”, which was published in the “Only Believe” magazine.

Finally, William Branham was hunting in the morning, and the cloud appeared in the evening.

So if the cloud was not caused by angels leaving Brother Branham, as he claimed during this sermon, caused it to appear?

In the Life Magazine article, Dr. James McDonald stated that he was not aware of any rocket explosions that day. However, he later wrote a supplemental report where he discusses the explosion of a THOR rocket that had been launched from Vandenburg Airforce base in California earlier that day.

So we looked at the story of the rocket to try to see how likely it was that this explosion caused the cloud and here's what we found.

On February 28, 1963, a Thrust assisted Thor Agenda D rocket was launched from Vandenberg air force base in California. The rocket was carrying a military spy satellite.

The rocket malfunctioned and was intentionally destroyed at 1:52 in the afternoon at an estimated height of 44 kilometers.

The height of the cloud that appeared over Flagstaff later that same day was estimated to be about 43 kilometers miles high. Is this just a random coincidence?

In order to travel the required distance from California to Arizona, the cloud would have to be travelling at 135 miles per hour that afternoon. But Dr. James McDonald wrote that the wind speed recorded by scientists was, "tantalizingly close" to the 135 mile an hour wind speed required to carry the cloud from Vandenberg to Flagstaff.

The prevailing winds in California blow from west to east. It is also not unusual for Jetstream winds to vary in speed as you go from north to south. Windspeeds on March 1st, 1963 at an altitude of 43 kilometers were 90 miles an hour at White Sands, New Mexico and 125 miles per hour at Point Mugu, California.

Winds and atmospheric conditions are notoriously unpredictable. However, rocket trails from launches at Vandenberg air force base are regularly seen in Arizona… and even as far east as Oklahoma City.

On March 27, 2012, NASA launched 5 suborbital sounding rockets which released a chemical tracer that created milky white clouds 60 miles above the earth. They did this to learn about wind-speeds in the Mesosphere. The pictures that they took reveal circular clouds similar to the February 28, 1963 cloud.

Someone imposed the picture of Jesus from Hoffman’s painting “Christ at 33” into the photo of the 1963 cloud. The painting first had to be reversed to do this. If you are not a message believer, you are likely offended by this picture.

Still, you can take the same picture from Hoffman’s painting and impose it on the clouds from March 2012, without reversing it. If you are a message believer, you are likely offended by this picture.

But, whether you are looking at the 1963 cloud or the 2012 cloud, you have to manipulate the image to make the picture fit.

Questions have been raised as to why the cloud was not seen between Vandenberg and Flagstaff. However, noctilucent clouds are very thin and are only visible at dawn or dusk. They cannot be seen until the sky starts to darken overhead as it does at sunset. That is why the Cloud “appeared” over Flagstaff in the evening and was not seen between California and Flagstff.

Based on all of the facts available, it is not only plausible but highly likely that the cloud over Flagstaff was formed by the high altitude destruction of the Thor rocket over Vandenberg Air force base.

However, our examination of the cloud is not over. We will next look at whether the cloud could be in any way related to the events which occurred at Rattlesnake Mesa.

Evidence from the Branham Family

Rebekah Branham Smith, William Branham's daughter, also wrote on the Cloud and specifically details the timing of the events surrounding the appearance of the Cloud in the Only Believe Magazine, "Road to Sunset".

• Only Believe Magazine, "Road to Sunset", Page 1
• Only Believe Magazine, "Road to Sunset", Page 2
• Only Believe Magazine, "Road to Sunset", Page 3
• Only Believe Magazine, "Road to Sunset", Page 4

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