A Minuteman III ICBM is scheduled for launch from Southern California's Vandenberg AFB on February 25 between 2:01a.m. and 8:01 a.m. PST. If Saturday's launch occurs before dawn, the launch could be visible to the naked eye as far away as Oregon, most of Nevada, western Arizona, and northwestern Mexico. If liftoff occurs late enough in the launch window for the vehicle exhaust plume to be illuminated by the sun, but before sunrise at your location, you may be treated to an impressive visual display.
I grew up in Norwalk and really enjoyed seeing those plumes. There always seemed to be a lot of them around sunset. Really neat looking. I really miss them since we've been in San Diego all these years.
@socalgal - Hey Patty. My wife and I will be heading out to Mt. Laguna to do some hiking so we won't be going up to see this. If we get out there early enough there is a possibility we could see a bit of some of the contrails as the high atmospheric wind picks them up. We are usually on the trail by 8am so there is a slight possibility we might see something. Probably not enough for a pic, though. I don't know if you are a hiker, and early riser, but if so you are welcome to join us out hiking sometime.
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You going to give this a shot?