Thread by @NStewCBS2

NEW: A NOTAM was placed with flight restrictions in north central Montana calling it a "National Defense Airspace." This is until further notice, issued at 00:20z (06:20 p.m. central time)

A USAF Stratotanker is in the area doing laps. #BalloonGate continued?

Statement from the FAA:

https://twitter.com/sentdefender/status/1624573577923100672?t=t01F5zQb4Tl96wydjUejOA&s=19

The TFR, temporary flight restriction, has ended. Airspace is back open.

Certainly something interesting on @NWSBillings radar. The CC values are higher which normally wouldn't correlate to debris/chaff, but the location is suspicious near the Temporary Flight Restriction for national defense. #MTwx

No clouds on #GOES16, so I wouldn't expect this radar return to be meteorological. #balloongate #mtwx

Notice the values are much higher in Montana (reds) than the Carolina shoot down of the confirmed Chinese surveillance balloon (blues). It's keeping me from saying for certain it's debris... But certainly suspicious.

https://twitter.com/NStewCBS2/status/1621965468872359938?t=2mVzcdZynLQw5LsVWOjJsQ&s=19

H/t @don_moberly and @DaveDowneyWx with the suggestion of a fuel dump... Certainly more believable with the higher CC values.
Very interesting nonetheless.

Only other thing I can think of is some very light precipitation being detected from these light clouds near the top of this loop. Using the day-cloud phase, there might be a bit of moisture content - perhaps virga? Radar was running clear-air mode so it would be sensitive.