1998-11-20 - Seattle, WA - Flash

Bright, multi-colored (mostly green and blue, but some red) flashes across the eastern horizon.

There was quite a storm blowing outside this particular night, with a great deal of precipitation. My wife and I were watching television on Friday night. My wife said she thought she saw lightning in the sky. I did't think much of it until I turned the TV set off and with the room being darker, I saw a flash myself. I didn't see it directly, because a building next door was blocking it. I kept looking and seconds later, there were many flashes across the eastern portion of the sky, but they were colored! I had never seen anything like it. The display was so remarkable, that I was literally shaking with fear. I called my wife back to the window and she observed several flashes with me. Some were low enough that they silhouetted the I-5 bridge before us. It had the appearance of fireworks being obscured by clouds, except for the fact that it covered a far too great portion of the sky. From our vantage point, we can see directly to the east, and a bit to the north, with limited views to the south due to buildings close by. At least one flash appeared to have structure to it, almost like a laser beam. But again, this display covered a VERY large portion of the sky. After about ten minutes the flashes stopped. I spoke with my neighbor and he and his housemate saw them as well. I was so taken by the experience that I called the police to report it as it was happening. They reported some transformers were exploding, but nothing that matched what I saw. I work at NOAA, and spoke to a meteorologist about it, and he could not offer an explanation either. I'll never forget what I saw. It was spectacular. Thank you.