It was snowing south of Dallas earlier this week but don’t blame the weather, at least not entirely. The area under the southern extended centerlines of the Dallas-Fort Worth International Airport's four main parallel runways got a dusting of snow thanks to a phenomenon known as airplane-effect snow, according to the Washington Post. Under the right circumstances, including a sharp temperature inversion, water vapor from the engines becomes supercooled and nucleate on the tiny bits of soot coming from the engines and form snowflakes, which then drop on weather-weary people below. It’s a rare phenomenon but virtually unheard of as far south as Dallas.
Will vary with aircraft type as newer engines produce less soot.
(Probably no original KC-135s and B-52s still flying, smoky machines. nor 747s with water injection for takeoff.
USAF et all hung onto the turbojets for a pitifully long time, I saw one on display at the Abbotsford Air Show decades ago.
Both types still in operation with turbofans of 707B vintage, but some KC-135s re-engined with CFM-56 engines as in B737-300, and now the KC-46A replacement based on B767 design is sort of in service. And USAF is thinking about re-engining B-52s with a one-for-one replacement engine, having been too cheap to accept lease of B757 engines from Pratt and Rolls. (Which would require new pylon and supporting structure to change from eight to four engines. The change would have eliminated need for refueling logistics for strike missions deep into enemy territory.)
