2022-02-09 - Emeryville, CA - Formation

Several glowing orb lights in random formation above Hwy 80 in Emeryville

Wednesday evening, February 9th, I was driving near the Chevys parking lot on the Emeryville Pier and saw what I thought were lights attached to the construction cranes hanging over Hwy 80 (several exits were under repair at the time). However, as I stared at them, I realized it was something different and pulled my car over immediately to get out and take a look. What I saw were 5 softly glowing, silent orange lights in a random formation over the highway. Each light was slowly pulsating. It seemed as if they were just hovering there, but it also seemed like they were moving towards the Oakland Hills. The formation was random; a couple of them seemed quite near the highway.

I drove my car over to the end of the pier, by the boats, to see if I could watch them further. By the time I got there, the lights were already closer to or directly above the Oakland Hills. I watched a couple of them sink behind the hills and the rest drift further east into the fog, where they disappeared. I kept watching, and noticed either 2 additional glowing orbs or the same 2 orbs that floated behind the hills earlier float back up from behind the hills before following the rest into the distance. I thought I saw one more as I went to my car, but I can't be sure. I couldn't take my eyes off the sky for a little while longer and just watched and watched, to make sure I didn't miss anything.

This took place over the course of a half an hour, at night. I've lived in Oakland for years and I tend to watch the sky at night from my porch, so I have a good sense of the various lights that appear regularly in the night skies (e.g., helicopters, drones, airplanes). The site was strange enough for me to pull over, and then keep watching as long as I could. It gave me an eery feeling.

The only explanations I can think of are flares and paper lanterns, perhaps released from somewhere near or on the pier. The latter seems more likely, given the direction they all seemed to be going. It's conceivable that there was a group of people further down the pier or on one of the boats releasing paper lanterns.