NUFORC Sighting 38761

Occurred: 2004-08-19 19:00 Local
Reported: 2004-08-20 07:46 Pacific
Duration: not sure
No of observers: 0

Location: St. Paul, MN, USA

Shape: Circle

This item is from WCCO news in Minneapolis Mn

There's an unknown object hovering in the sky over the Twin Cities, and it doesn't appear to be a bird or a plane.

Meteorologist Tony Zaleski of the National Weather Service in Chanhassen says the white object appears to be higher than the white, whispy cirrus clouds, which means it's probably higher than 30,000 feet.

Although the object looked like it might be rotating, it doesn't appear to be going anywhere. Zaleski says that probably would rule out a satellite.

Patrick Hogan at the Metropolitan Airports Commission says folks in the tower at Minneapolis-St. Paul International Airport thought it might be a weather balloon. But Zaleski says if that's true, the Weather Service didn't release it.

The Federal Aviation Administration hasn't returned calls about the mysterious object.

NUFORC Note:

One of several reports from the Twin Cities area. At first, we thought the object might be a balloon, launched from Canada, as part of the MANTRA scientific project, but the balloon had not yet been launched on August 19. The local news media covered the event extensively. We do not know what the object, or objects, were. Please see other reports. PD

Posted 2004-08-24