NUFORC Sighting 79642

Occurred: 2011-01-06 03:30 Local
Reported: 2011-01-12 03:22 Pacific
Duration: 3 minutes
No of observers: 1

Location: Penn Yan, NY, USA

Shape: Flash

erratic bright white flashes, silent, lighting up the sky near south shore of Lake Ontario

At 3:30 AM on 1/6/2011, I saw some very unusual looking flashes of light to the north. The light was bluish white, and flashed erratically, similar to lightning but with occasional series of very bright flashes that lit up the entire sky.

The night was totally clear except for a small cloud on the northern horizon which obscured the source of the light. It looked like it was coming from over the horizon, over Lake Ontario, or possibly from the ground on the southern shore of the lake.

I went outside to listen for noise, maybe booming or thunder, but it was completely silent. The flashing continued in bursts, on and off for about 3 minutes, then stopped abruptly.

Posted 2011-01-31