We witnessed a spectacular flash illuminating East Vernon Hill, on a cloudless, warm night to the northeast of Vernon, off Hartnell Rd.
A spectacular flash appeared to the northeast, about 23:30 on 30th August 2003, illuminating East Vernon Hill, lasting several seconds. The light was lemony with a bluish tinge in colour. There was no sound. We (2 middle-aged women) were part of a 'Citizens on Patrol' group formed in the rural area, just north of Vernon to patrol our area for possible fires. Shifts last 2 hours. We had signed up for the 10-12 midnight shift.We live 45 minutes north of Kelowna in the interface between the city of Vernon and crown land. We were near the north end of Hartnell Road, coming down the road when we saw a brilliant flash to the northeast, illuminating the mountain behind. As suddenly as the flash appeared, it disappeared. The energy required to illuminate the mountain (East Vernon Hill) must have been enormous. Neither of us had seen anything like this before. As you can imagine, given the fire danger, we were anxious to find out if this event had fire potential. The sky was clear and cloudless so we discounted lightning...did not see another flash thereafter. Also, there was no sound accompanying the flash. We wondered if it was part of a meteor shower but have no explanation for what we saw.
A spectacular flash appeared to the northeast, about 23:30 on 30th August 2003, illuminating East Vernon Hill, lasting several seconds. The light was lemony with a bluish tinge in colour. There was no sound. We (2 middle-aged women) were part of a 'Citizens on Patrol' group formed in the rural area, just north of Vernon to patrol our area for possible fires. Shifts last 2 hours. We had signed up for the 10-12 midnight shift.We live 45 minutes north of Kelowna in the interface between the city of Vernon and crown land. We were near the north end of Hartnell Road, coming down the road when we saw a brilliant flash to the northeast, illuminating the mountain behind. As suddenly as the flash appeared, it disappeared. The energy required to illuminate the mountain (East Vernon Hill) must have been enormous. Neither of us had seen anything like this before. As you can imagine, given the fire danger, we were anxious to find out if this event had fire potential. The sky was clear and cloudless so we discounted lightning...did not see another flash thereafter. Also, there was no sound accompanying the flash. We wondered if it was part of a meteor shower but have no explanation for what we saw.
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Vernon
Canada
several seconds
several seconds
50.23
-119.25
fireball
BC
Occurred : 8/30/2003 23:30 (Entered as : 08/30/03 23:30) Reported: 9/7/2003 9:32:30 PM 21:32 Posted: 9/9/2003 Location: Vernon (Canada), BC Shape: Fireball Duration: several seconds
We witnessed a spectacular flash illuminating East Vernon Hill, on a cloudless, warm night to the northeast of Vernon, off Hartnell Rd.