Tell me about Mirage

[Sven]

I've always been fascinated with mirage since I was old enough to see out that far... what a crazy phenomenon, eh? Curious if you folks have any pointers or 'tips and tricks' regarding how to read mirage for wind patterns?

Probably nothing that time and experience will teach me, but your help is appreciated.

Basically, I'm so new to this, I'm guessing that one:

1) looks for the 'wiggles' in the convection patterns and guess which way things are drifting, across entire path bullet will travel
2) applies a mental calculation for average wind speed and direction across line of flight
3) changes aim to compensate for calculation above
4) squeezes off a shot

That's a mouthful. Do thermals created by hot patches of ground (darker surface on a sunny day) actually cause updrafts that affect the flight of the bullet?

Thanks in advance.

 

[Steve Smith]

still learning...EVERYONE is still learning...

I'll do what I can here.

You have the basic idea, but the purpose of looking at the mirage is to determine speed of the wind.

To address your question as best I can, no, you won't see elevation affected by the thermals, but your view of the target CAN change BECAUSE of the thermals, thereby affecting the elevation of your shot due to an optical illusion. The bullet is not affected, but your eye is.