Round red-orange lights rising in the distant sky, hovering briefly then fading away.
My wife and I were seated in our back yard in the Elm Grove area of Wheeling, WV on Friday, July 5, 2013, just after dusk, approximately 9:30 to 9:45 p.m., facing northeast to watch the Elm Grove community fireworks display, which takes place less than a half mile from our house.
About 5 minutes before the fireworks began, we noticed an orange/red-orange orb rising in the sky above the hills to the northeast--in the direction of Pittsburgh (50 miles from Wheeling). A few seconds later, the first orb was followed by a second orb. The orbs were 3 or 4 times larger in diameter than a bright "morning" or "evening" star. At first we thought they were approaching aircraft, but they didn't blink like aircraft lights, and instead of getting closer and passing overhead, they became stationary in the sky about 4 or 5 degrees above the horizon (hilltops), and after about 10 seconds gradually faded away.
During the first 5 minutes of the fireworks display, we saw four more orbs. They behaved just like the first 2, rising straight up one or two at a time, floating for several seconds, then fading and disappearing. The orbs were clearly far, far distant from the fireworks, which were going off more or less directly over our heads. We were actually watching the orbs more carefully than the fireworks!
My wife and I were seated in our back yard in the Elm Grove area of Wheeling, WV on Friday, July 5, 2013, just after dusk, approximately 9:30 to 9:45 p.m., facing northeast to watch the Elm Grove community fireworks display, which takes place less than a half mile from our house.
About 5 minutes before the fireworks began, we noticed an orange/red-orange orb rising in the sky above the hills to the northeast--in the direction of Pittsburgh (50 miles from Wheeling). A few seconds later, the first orb was followed by a second orb. The orbs were 3 or 4 times larger in diameter than a bright "morning" or "evening" star. At first we thought they were approaching aircraft, but they didn't blink like aircraft lights, and instead of getting closer and passing overhead, they became stationary in the sky about 4 or 5 degrees above the horizon (hilltops), and after about 10 seconds gradually faded away.
During the first 5 minutes of the fireworks display, we saw four more orbs. They behaved just like the first 2, rising straight up one or two at a time, floating for several seconds, then fading and disappearing. The orbs were clearly far, far distant from the fireworks, which were going off more or less directly over our heads. We were actually watching the orbs more carefully than the fireworks!
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Wheeling
USA
10 minutes
10 minutes
40.10
-80.64
fireball
WV
Occurred : 7/5/2013 21:45 (Entered as : 07/05/13 21:45) Reported: 7/28/2013 7:11:51 PM 19:11 Posted: 8/30/2013 Location: Wheeling, WV Shape: Fireball Duration: 10 minutes
Round red-orange lights rising in the distant sky, hovering briefly then fading away.