- #1
leprechaun0
- 12
- 0
Well this is my first thread so I figured I'd start off on the right foot in the crazy forum.
In all seriousness I would like to attempt to explain some experiences I've had that I have been unable to find an explanation for. I will provide as much detail as I can recall to try an aid anyone who may have an explanation.
#1 This event took place took place in the early 2000s, can't remember exact year in Hammond, In. I was standing in a parking lot with a friend having a conversation. It was a nice summer day probably August. The Gary or Chicago airshow was being held that weekend, so there was all sorts of interesting air traffic over the area at that time. Now I recall this happening in the early evening not dusk maybe 5pm or so. We standing there having a conversation being interrupted by thunderous roars from the heavens and as we were looking for the jets responsible for the noise we saw it. It was a cumulonimbus thunderhead, just a grey cloud nothing too stormy illuminate red. It all of a sudden started glowing and slowly fading maybe over 10s. We were awestruck and after about 30s I eventually said "Well, I've never seen anything like that before" ,and my friend agreed.
My best guess would be that one of the fighter jets could have illuminated the cloud with an afterburner? This to me doesn't really add up and also I find it unlikely that the pilot would do such a thing over a highly populated area, I really have no idea.
#2 Winter 2009, Cold, dune sledding on the Lake Michigan lakesore in gary, in. 8pm.
This event was also witnessed by a friend and I feel the least abnormal. We were sledding down dunes and launching ourselves into snow drifts, great fun! We took a walk to inspect the lake shore as there was a north wind and all the ice from out in the open water had smashed itself up onto the beach. After trying some star gazing we notice a dense fog over the lake preventing us from seeing the night sky in the only direction lacking light pollution. Then once again a cloud lit up red. This occurred almost directly to our east. It appeared that only the bottom of the cloud illuminated. I attributed this to the heavy industry in the area, specifically the steel mills. My theory is that perhaps they were pouring steel into rail cars from a blast furnace or some other situation where the molten steel might be exposed to the sky above. who knows.
#3 Sorry this is longer than I thought. Summer 2011Lake County Indiana mild thunderstorm late evening (dark). This was just funky to begin with lots of clouds moving in intersecting paths and failed funnel formations dropping from clouds, including some impressive horizontal rotating columns. So I was driving home at night and the light show was spectacular. Almost constant cloud to cloud or "heat" lightning (no thunder just flash after flash). At about 2am I woke up to let the dog out and waited to see if the show was still on. This was witnessed by myself only, excluding the dog, she has never fessed up. I was looking east as I tend to do more than I'd like to admit and this is when it happened. Cloud illumination, on a 100% cloudy night. There was no thunder but the illumination lasted no less than 15s. It began as a brilliant blue white and changed to an aurora green and then red and faded out. This continued for a good 10 minutes. In addition there was other white blue discharges in the clouds as well most lasting must longer than I am used to seeing, perhaps just multiple instances of lightning. Well that's all she wrote. If you made it this far you win the patience award, and a reminder you probably have something better to do with your time.
Thanks for any ideas.
In all seriousness I would like to attempt to explain some experiences I've had that I have been unable to find an explanation for. I will provide as much detail as I can recall to try an aid anyone who may have an explanation.
#1 This event took place took place in the early 2000s, can't remember exact year in Hammond, In. I was standing in a parking lot with a friend having a conversation. It was a nice summer day probably August. The Gary or Chicago airshow was being held that weekend, so there was all sorts of interesting air traffic over the area at that time. Now I recall this happening in the early evening not dusk maybe 5pm or so. We standing there having a conversation being interrupted by thunderous roars from the heavens and as we were looking for the jets responsible for the noise we saw it. It was a cumulonimbus thunderhead, just a grey cloud nothing too stormy illuminate red. It all of a sudden started glowing and slowly fading maybe over 10s. We were awestruck and after about 30s I eventually said "Well, I've never seen anything like that before" ,and my friend agreed.
My best guess would be that one of the fighter jets could have illuminated the cloud with an afterburner? This to me doesn't really add up and also I find it unlikely that the pilot would do such a thing over a highly populated area, I really have no idea.
#2 Winter 2009, Cold, dune sledding on the Lake Michigan lakesore in gary, in. 8pm.
This event was also witnessed by a friend and I feel the least abnormal. We were sledding down dunes and launching ourselves into snow drifts, great fun! We took a walk to inspect the lake shore as there was a north wind and all the ice from out in the open water had smashed itself up onto the beach. After trying some star gazing we notice a dense fog over the lake preventing us from seeing the night sky in the only direction lacking light pollution. Then once again a cloud lit up red. This occurred almost directly to our east. It appeared that only the bottom of the cloud illuminated. I attributed this to the heavy industry in the area, specifically the steel mills. My theory is that perhaps they were pouring steel into rail cars from a blast furnace or some other situation where the molten steel might be exposed to the sky above. who knows.
#3 Sorry this is longer than I thought. Summer 2011Lake County Indiana mild thunderstorm late evening (dark). This was just funky to begin with lots of clouds moving in intersecting paths and failed funnel formations dropping from clouds, including some impressive horizontal rotating columns. So I was driving home at night and the light show was spectacular. Almost constant cloud to cloud or "heat" lightning (no thunder just flash after flash). At about 2am I woke up to let the dog out and waited to see if the show was still on. This was witnessed by myself only, excluding the dog, she has never fessed up. I was looking east as I tend to do more than I'd like to admit and this is when it happened. Cloud illumination, on a 100% cloudy night. There was no thunder but the illumination lasted no less than 15s. It began as a brilliant blue white and changed to an aurora green and then red and faded out. This continued for a good 10 minutes. In addition there was other white blue discharges in the clouds as well most lasting must longer than I am used to seeing, perhaps just multiple instances of lightning. Well that's all she wrote. If you made it this far you win the patience award, and a reminder you probably have something better to do with your time.
Thanks for any ideas.
