The skies in the Southeast were covered in lines Wednesday. Here’s why that’s normal.

Lines of clouds cluttered skies across parts of the Southeast on Wednesday. They came from busy air traffic over the area. And contrary to the popular conspiracy theories you may have heard, contrails are a routine — and relatively harmless — sighting.

Satellite imagery captured the sunrise atop a backdrop of thin cirrus clouds, a veil that overspread much of the Southeast as the day wore on. Dozens of crisscrossed billows of cloud etched a lattice across the sky, the result of airplanes cruising through a layer of moist — and chilly — air.