NUFORC Sighting 101188

Occurred: 2013-08-14 03:33 Local
Reported: 2013-08-14 15:14 Pacific
Duration: 3 minutes
No of observers: 1

Location: Phoenix, AZ, USA

Shape: Light

Amber-Orange light over Phoenix

This sighting of 1 object, occurred in central Phoenix, at 3:33 am, Wednesday, July (sic. August) 14, 2013.

As I walked outside, I immediately noticed an object due north of my position, approximately 40 degrees above the horizon.

Object moved on a west, north-west to east, south-east heading. When it seemed to be almost overhead, but still slightly east of my position, it executed a smart left turn for a heading of approximately due east.

Object, then abruptly slowed, to approximately half it's previous speed. It almost came to a full stop, but slowly continued on a due east course for about 45 seconds, then began to dim in brightness, until after another 15 to 20 seconds, the light seemed to just “turn off”.

Object was a brilliant orange-amber light, about the size of a green pea held at arms length. The color and intensity were very vivid, and at first dazzling. It had a similar appearance, and brilliance to the landing flood lights of a passenger jet coming head on, except the color of the light was a very intense amber-orange. Duration of this sighting was two and a half, to three minutes.

I do not think this object was some sort of “flare” tied to a balloon, although that remains a possibility. 3:30 am on a Wednesday morning does not strike me as good timing for a hoax. Still, the thought did occur to me. Upon returning inside my home, I examined three internet based weather stations very close to my home.

Weather conditions were, lightly scattered clouds, with calm wind conditions. All three showed wind conditions of 1 mph or less at the time of this sighting, reporting “calm” with no wind direction indicated. I have archived these weather stations by URL, and by taking screen captures.

Posted 2013-08-30