NUFORC Sighting 103694

Occurred: 2013-10-25 18:25 Local
Reported: 2013-10-25 11:01 Pacific
Duration: 5-10 minutes
No of observers: 1

Location: Al Warqaa 1 (U.A.R.), , United Arab Emirates

Shape: Light
Characteristics: Lights on object, Aura or haze around object, Emitted beams

Cloud containing yellow, purple and red lights for 5 minutes. Lights remained contained and cloud disappeared after 5-10 minutes.

Near to our apartment building, we have a 3 kilometer cylindrical track which I frequent regularly. It is also very close to the flight path for Dubai’s International Airports but the aircrafts do not fly over the track. As I was walking round my second lap, I noticed a heavy cloud above one of the mosques. The rest of the sky was quite clear, even though it was dark. Excited at the prospect of rain, I continued to watch the cloud. There were other people using the track but no one was taking any notice. The cloud had yellow, red and purple lights flashing inside it, one after the other, but in no sequence at all. At first, I thought it was fire-works – I thought that a few families may have had some left over from our Eid Al Adha celebrations which passed last week. I also thought it was a plane passing through or even a helicopter hovering…but there was no sound and absolutely nothing came out of the cloud.

I then thought that it may have been a d! rone but to be honest, I am not familiar with drone activity in Dubai. The lights kept flashing, one after the other but, as stated earlier, in no particular sequence. The strange thing was that the light remained contained in the cloud. As I was watching, something like a lightning bolt flashed just to the right part of the cloud…but the shape was not a typical forked lightning, more of a slight spiral. The lights were flashing for a good 5 or 10 minutes, but the bolt struck only once. I was waiting to hear thunder to accompany it, but nothing came. I also thought it may have come from the chimneys of a sewage plant nearby (they have lights on to warn aircraft of their height). My training program requires me to start running after 1000 m, which I did – I ran 500 m, with the cloud on my right hand side, then turned around to come back to see it again. The cloud had vanished and the sky was clear. It was the most bizarre thing I have ever seen. I posted, jokingly,! about it on Facebook and two of my friends had reported seein! g the ab solute same thing yesterday, in two different parts of Dubai.

Posted 2013-11-11