Green Cloud?

Long-time-reader, first-time-poster.

I would really like to share an experience I had a long, long time ago (not in a galaxy far away, haha) when I was still a child.

Visiting relatives an hour's drive away was a regular occurrence, and one that I always looked forward to. I loved staring out the car window on the way back home because I was fascinated by the moon and stars.

One evening, I saw the strangest thing. It was roughly 11:30 at night, and I remember the sky being very dark. I was sitting to the left of the backseat as usual, my older brother was asleep beside me. My mum was also asleep, and my dad was driving.

There was an incredibly HUGE cloud directly within my range of vision. It had a somewhat hazy green glow "smudged" (for lack of a better word) all over it. The black/white/grey hues were also visible. Another odd feature was the fact that there were "silent lightning bolts" flying inside the cloud in all directions, but never seeming to fully release and touch the surface below.

I remember asking my dad what it was, but I don't remember his response. I've asked him about it in previous years, but his memory is limited.

I have never forgotten that day, and I can still see the strange cloud in my mind as if I had just seen it yesterday.

I posted in this section of the forum because I'm leaning towards a more scientific suggestion.

However, any kind of speculation would be greatly appreciated!

Originally posted by Pandapple

However, any kind of speculation would be greatly appreciated!

The Legendary Green Cloud of DOOM transitions itself into our dimensional reality when the time is nigh and Meek will soon inherit the Earth. It comes as a warning to the peoples of Earth. Beware, the End is Near. HooRah! ;-P

How about that ey? ;-P

It's pretty speculative ;-P

I'm sure though the simplest explanation would be that it could just be "Swamp Gas" passed from a passing Big Foot who just happened to pass by.

But then where would the conspiracy be in that?

It could have been a number of perfectly normal things.

It could have been the Sun, illuminating the cloud, I've seen this done before, sitting on a beach, the clouds over the ocean were mainly red, but with green tinges.

Clouds are water, so I guess it's possible that the green could have been some form of algae.

I found this website as well, which also doesn't know what causes them, but makes the link between green clouds and stormy weather. Which fits in nicley with your lightning bolt description,

Green Clouds?

A nice thing to remember is that science can't answer everything, no matter how many people say that it can, some things can still be a mystery.

When i was child i think i was about 12 years old, i was walking home from friends house about 6:40 it was during the winter so it was dark, the sky was clear and i could see the stars, as i turned the corner into the street i lived on i looked up and i seen something like your green cloud, it wasn't that big just a small cloud on its own, there was a glow coming from the inside and it also had a glowing hue around the edges which was a very faint pink color, this also had flashes from inside the cloud and lightning bolts flashing around the outside of the cloud, but no rumbles of thunder. i spoke to my parents about it and got told it was probably just a storm cloud and i was just seeing the beginning of it, i told a few friends to which i was laughed at and Ive never mentioned anything about this till i posted this.

It sounds very much like the Aurora Borealis (or Australis, if you're in the southern hemisphere.) I've seen several that were just "green clouds" rather than the curtains and ribbons described and seen in pictures. In high solar activity years, these can be seen as far south as Texas in the United States.

Without more to go on (year, location), I'd suspect that this may be what you saw.

Ty bryd that helps me clear that up, so i can now say ive seen a wiered form of Aurora Borealis and ive seen 2 lots of ball lightning

Wow, that's why I love this forum so much. Thank you for all the wonderful responses!

Well, I live in a smallish coastal town in Australia, an hour away from the main city of Melbourne. The sighting was during 1989 or 1990 (definitely no earlier), and I would've been roughly 5 or 6-years-old. It still amazes me how my brain was able to keep such a memory intact for so many years!

I'm not convinced that what I saw was indeed a Borealis/Australis, purely because, well, what I saw wasn't that spectacular!

Zanzibar, I understand what you mean by the illuminating effect, but I think I can rule that suggestion out. Thank you for the link though, it was very informative! From what I read, the cloud's green colour could've been the result of light being reflected from the cornfields and vegetation below.

Then again, can light still be reflected from the ground late at night? And I thought the surface had to be moist for light to be reflected?

you say it was in 1989 - 1990, in 1990 i was 11 and has i said it was when i was about 12 when i seen this glowing cloud, but im not 100% sure i was 12 i know it was around 11 - 12 years old at a push 10 years old so i could have seen this around about the same year you did pandapple, im gona do some research on the years 1989 - 1990 see if there was an increase in solar activity at that time.

i did a little search on google for the years 1989 - 1990 and found this

A large, complicated sunspot region rotated onto the visible dirk of the sun on March (5, 1989,
and raked solar acriviry to very high levels for 061 9 Mmh. 7he region Ir output was intense, setting
new records for the c m n t solar cycle. In particular, the largest geomqnctic stom since 1960
occurred on March 13 and produced auroral sighrings as far south Flon'da and Terar.
!Vumerous technical systems were affected by the activity inc1udngspucrc"~aofpi erations, the space
surveillance network, HF communications, VLF (such as LORAN) communication, and electic
d power system. More recent solar-geophysical activity in August-October 1989 has also been
impressive, suggesting that a remarkable solar cycle LY currently in progress. Real-rime infomarion
and forecasting of the space environment ir mailable from the Space Environment Services Center
(SESC), a joint National Oceanic and Ahnospheric Administration (NOAA) and U.S. Air Force
operation

Source

Direct link to pdf

[edit on 7-6-2007 by u4ria]

BUMP!

I'm back from a rather lengthy break, haha.

Your break was lengthy?

I'd have to concur with Byrd, in that it was simply a display of aurora. It doesn't always give off the picturesque colors and hues that you would think. More often than not, the ones that I've seen have been rather plain, and had you not known what to look for, wouldn't have thought anything of it.

Aww, how disappointing! My very first Aurora (and most likely my last), and it was an icky green colour.

I wouldn't fret too much. Green is the most common color for it to appear. If you want to see it again, keep track of SpaceWeather to see when the next prediction for it is.

Oh, thank you! I'll be sure to check it out.