strange flash i saw tonight

Witnessed and strange flash tonight, I was having a smoke and noticed a flash in the distance over my neighbor’s house. It was yellow in color and only lit up part of the horizon. There was no bolt and I’m pretty sure it wasn’t lightning due to no clouds in the sky also no noise, It’s completely clear. My question is it possible for a stray bolt of lightning to strike on a cloudless night or is there another explanation for what I saw.

yes this is very possible

Cold be anything mate.. More than likely some sort of human cause. A Conspiracy or UFO should be the last possible scenario once all other possibilities are eliminated..

So firstly try and work out roughly how far the flash was and then look to see what is in that direction..

reply to post by minesweeper


Lightning is really odd stuff, it can do amazing things like travel for kilometres underground, some forms can bounce around the sky (ball lightning for one, mate of mine got hit by that a few years ago) so my guess it was some form of that.
Is there a university near you that might have a few eggs heads to help out?

Originally posted by UniverSoul
yes this is very possible

huh, I remember hearing that specific cloud formations were required for lightning to occur. Not doubting but it was just unusual and out of place for northern California, we rarely get lightning. The color and sky effect was right, but lack of clouds and thunder threw me off. I stayed out a little long and there was no repeat, went in and checked the weather forecast and it was clear. Well chock one up for natural wonders

Originally posted by Misterlondon
Cold be anything mate.. More than likely some sort of human cause. A Conspiracy or UFO should be the last possible scenario once all other possibilities are eliminated..

So firstly try and work out roughly how far the flash was and then look to see what is in that direction..

Not much in that direction as for a human cause, open delta river and farming land. There’s no power plants or fan farms in the area either. I would have to eliminate a transformer going nuclear, that would have been a blue flash seen ‘em go up before, oh well thank for the input.

reply to post by minesweeper

What is heat lightning?

[color=CFECEC]What you’re likely seeing is the light from a distant thunderstorm that is located at too great of a distance for the thunder sound to be heard. The sound of thunder rarely travels more than 10 miles. Other cases can be explained by the refraction (or bending) of sound waves by bodies of air with different densities. An observer may see nearby lightning, but the sound from the discharge is refracted over their head by a change in the temperature, and therefore the density, of the air around him. As a result, the lightning discharge seems to be silent.

The term “heat lightning” probably comes from the fact that the effect is most often seen on warm, humid nights during July and August. So an association has been made with sultry temperatures. But when the sky is hazy, as is quite typical on warm, summer nights, the light from intense thunderstorms as far away as 100 miles can be reflected off a layer of haze and up into the night sky.

And that’s why you tend to see heat lightning as just a diffuse flash or flicker.

A possibility.

Glad this thread has appeared, as I saw a totally unrelated flash whilst on holiday last week. It was like a camera flash, but in the sky. It was right above me (I was outside a pub having a smoke) and I was a tad perplexed as to what it was. It was a very clear night, no clouds and I could see all of the stars. Many times when I've seen a flash out of the corner of my eye, I can usually see the aeroplane that caused it. And this is what I looked for on this occasion, but there was nothing there but empty space. I wondered wether or not it may have been a little asteroid or something buring up as it entered out athmosphere, but there was no streak to it, litterally just a flash, like that from a camera.

Any ideas ATS?

Another possibility is a fault on a HV distribution feeder caused by a large bird or animal like a possum blundering across the line. We get more blackouts and feeder reclosures due to them than trees contacting the lines in high winds or lightning strikes.

reply to post by minesweeper


Could have been a Bolide, they do sometimes flash yellow.