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Red "Blotch" In The Sky (Roanoke, Virginia; Early 1980s)

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Anonymous

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Way back in the early '80s in Roanoke VA I saw what only can be described as a red blotch in the sky. It was after a whopper of a thunderstorm. The sky had cleared off so it couldn't have been a rainbow. The time was afternoon, the phenom was in the east/southeast. It just hung there for 15 to 20 minutes. It was rectangular and see-through. Any ideas? I posted this on weather.com & they said ufos or reflections from clouds, the sky WAS clear.
 
Was it a very clearly defined rectangle? Or was it just a rough shape? My only guess would be a suspention of sand from a sand storm in a desert somewhere, or possibly blown into the air by winds nearby.
XCOM:)
 
Roughly shaped rectangle. Roanoke, VA is in a valley in the Blue Ridge Mountains. Hope that helps, maybe it's a mountain thing. You can NOT imagine how much this has bugged me for all these years:confused: I'm sure it has a natural (at least i hope:cool: it does) explanation.
 
Do you get tornados there? And remember, I'm no meteorologist ;) but I'd say some sand/dirt got sucked up and drifted down slowly (hence the lingering for half an hour). In England we get sand storms from the Sahara make the sky go a wiered colour, but not as localised as this one.
XCOM:)
 
Tornadoes are very rare in the Appalachians. I've never heard of one. But you know, your explanation makes a lot more sense than the others I've heard over the years. My dad said it might have been an ion field, but I've never been able to find out whether or not those are even visible to the naked eye, not even on the internet (*INFORMATION* superhighway my heiney :p ) About you not being a meteorologist, that's why I posted on weather.com & no go, dang 'em!
 
Those guys did just what Charles Fort aimed to stop. They couldn't work it out, so the data gets 'forgotten about' or explained with a simple idea that doesn't really work. I wonder what the world wooould be like if scientists had never done this...
Any way, back to your post subject (;))
It might not have been a full tornado. I've seeen small winds blow up dust and stuff, or smaller 'tornados' form that just send dust up a few feet. Combined with the valley sides, a small gust could have sent a lot of dirt up. Is the soil there dry and sandy (possible soil errosion?) or is there a covering of grass?
XCOM:)
 
Saw something that sounds like that. It a rainbow but with only the red part. It was wider than the one color would be, by itself. It was not very long (in length). It also did not last long.

This was after a heavy rain when the sun came out and it was probably an hour or two before sunset, but on the opposite side of the sky as the sunset. There were also lots of dark clouds in the sky. This was in Monmouth, Oregon around, I'm guessing 1973.
 
To add more. The 'rainbow' was bright and distinct. It was, in effect, rectangular. In discussing it with people the speculation, from some weather person, was that it was a rainbow. Why just red? Because, for reasons unknown I could only see part of the whole rainbow.

It looked unobstructed but for reasons unknown the other part (with the other colors) were blocked or canceled out from my vantage point. And, as is normal anyway, I could not see the entire arch of the the thing (which is a circle anyway). So the part I could see looked like a red rectangle.

One never knows. Even the prosaic explanation is speculation.

:)
 
Roanoke VA is a city in southwest VA with a population of about 100,000 people. Now unFORTunately, the only other witness I had, my dad ( a prior student of VA Tech) is deceased. The explanations I have turned down, i.e. u.f.o.s are pseudo-scientific. The dust cloud has so far made the most sense to me personally. I have seen all-red rainbows & all- white rainbows, these type have, in my experience, been over large bodies of water. so I think I'll accept the dust cloud theory and give up the search. Thanks to all who have given me thoughtful answers.Long Live the Doctor :D
 
Bearing in mind the local trerrain, could it have been an inversion layer reflection of someting further in land, or from up the coast (There is a lot of naval stuff up the coast, which may have large areas of red...)

Can dust clouds hold a recilinear shape? I would have thought an uncontained dust cloud gould be either amorphous or globular, but then, one can get lenticular clouds which look highly stuctured but at the end of the day are just aerosol water...

Final question... was the form of the rectilinear obejct opaque and 'rough', opaque and 'smooth' or translucent?
 
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Roanoke, Virginia and the Blue Ridge Mountains ring a bell with me in association with aerial phenonema. Specifically, if I remember correctly, daytime darknesses possibly associated with dust or smoke clouds.

I seem to remember reading about such things in a book some years ago. I still have the book, although I can't remember the title and it's not at this location. I shall try to find the book and I'll post a reference to it when I find it.

Anyone else remember what I'm thinking of?

MarkR
 
Re: How about this?

Originally posted by afebk
Could it have been one of these?
http://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/apod/ap010802.html

The explanation of this picture says they occur above thunderstorms.
Click to expand...
sorry that is a red sprite, i don't think that is what i saw, they don't last long enough. the really cool thing about red sprites and blue jets and etc, is that nasa is now proving that stuff exists after years of denial from the scientific community. i still like the dust theory. this was not a query about roanoke island all, i was just sand blasting windagow. thank you windagow for apologizing... i am stikeforce, not stRikeforce...
 
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