This article was first published in May 2020. To skip to the April 2021 update, click here.
One of our readers sent us a video she took late Wednesday night from her high floor apartment on 69th and Riverside Boulevard. She was facing the camera east towards Central Park, and noticed a strange light changing colors in the sky.
At various points in the video, the light appears to be purple, red, green and blue. It also seems to take different hues of each color.
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Several other recent videos have displayed similar occurrences in NYC’s sky.
Here’s one which was posted on April 29, 2020:
And one from January 31, 2020:
UPDATE: APRIL 16, 2021
An April 2021 article in the NY Times took note of a serious rise in UFO sightings during 2020, with New York State seeing almost twice as many as were reported in 2019 (about 300 vs. 159, according to the Times). But those who study the strange flying objects attribute this increase, at least in part, to the coronavirus – and the extra free time it gave people. To look up.
Would the light patterns displayed in the videos above be considered “Unidentified Flying Objects”? They’re kind of just floating.
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The article also notes that many City residents moved upstate, where there is less pollution making for clearer skies. But this obviously doesn’t explain the videos above.
About a quarter of last year’s national UFO sightings are said to have taken place during March and April, “when lockdowns were at their most strict.”
The Pentagon also declassified three videos last year, which may have caused people to open up to the idea of UFOs … and spend more time looking up.
Pentagon declassifies three previously leaked videos taken by U.S. Navy pilots that show ‘unidentified aerial phenomena,’ which some claim are UFOs pic.twitter.com/Yb7NYulgJ0
— Reuters (@Reuters) April 28, 2020
Whether you want to call it an “Unidentified Flying Object” or just a weird patch of oddly-colored sky, those strange lights are still here.
On April 15, 2021 at about 7pm, reader Lisa Martinelli took this video from her terrace on West 100th Street, looking south east across Central Park.
Anyone know what’s going on?
Northern lights, not too far North?
Looks like reflections from colored lighting on buildings, reflecting off clouds. Not uncommon, just usually not colored. We’ve seen this lots of times before in cloudy evenings but it’s more noticeable under certain atmospheric conditions.
Send the tapes to Mufon, they will be interested in investigating this!
My guess is the colored lights from the Kosciusko Bridge. If the clouds are low enough it could bounce right off them.
Kosciusko bridge!!!
I have a similar video taken in Astoria. We’ve been seeing these lights every night since pandemic but unfortunately only during cloudy nights.
https://youtu.be/iZCIs1tGiy4
I don’t think so. I am seeing this right now at 11:30 pm in queens on May 15, 2020.
No idea what it is but it seems it shows when cloudy.
I took a video and some pics last night and tonight both around the exact same times, there’s 2 lights both changing colors and the seem to be moving upwards
Cloud seeding is now adding stratospheric Injection to “combat climate change “. Last I heard it was sulphur but now I’m reading nitrate / need to reseaechit more
Just saw two of these light spots around 12:30 in Queens amidst a lightning storm…they moved away from my field of view and then it began to rain.
I saw them last night in the West Village around 11:30. They changed colors and lasted a few minutes and then disappeared
I saw the same lights tonight in Belgium, Brussels, at 03:00 am.
I see the same purple lights in the sky every so often. I’m Manhattan by the east river. It comes n goes at times it’s very big,then small then disappears for a few weeks I’ve seen it about a total of 8 times. Was just curious to see if anyone else sees what I’m seeing…. AND HERE I AM
THEY ARE OBSERVING US PEOPLE!!???
I’ve been seeing them too! I live on 14th street in stuytown. I see them on cloudy nights around midnight. I can’t figure out what it is! It’s driving me nuts not knowing. I’ve seen them at least 10 times at this point…
I saw a very bright orange light similar to these over the west side of Manhattan last night, around 1 am, but bigger and brighter partially obscured by clouds. By 1:30 am, it was gone. Very weird.
i just saw the same thing literally a few minutes ago while walking my dog.. ive seen this a couple times already in the lower east side ny… but they do seem to be always visible when theres clouds .. they look like their using the clouds as a camouflage .. just WOW
Something is in the clouds I’m by the east river on east Houston st not much clouds clear sky 3/3/21 10:30 pm looking over the projects….?
I am on the UWS and have several videos of this phenomenon too. I need to know what it is!
Looking east from the lower east side, it could be the Koscuisko Bridge lights reflecting in the clouds. But I thought that light show had been stopped for financial reasons. And looking west from the upper west side? That’s gotta be something else … Anything lit up orange or changing colors in New Jersey?
It is East from the UWS and not any man made light show. As the other people commented it only happens while it’s cloudy at night.
Can’t be the bridge this light comes out once in a while… I’ve never seen it more than once every few weeks. This light looks like it’s right on top of the east river.???
Yes, Christina, exactly my thoughts. And sometimes there is a second spot around W 90s that it appears simultaneously.
Was out Wednesday the 17th at night. Purple blue then green.
I live a few blocks from the Kosciuscko bridge and can confirm that’s exactly what it is
I have to disagree, the bridge is 50 blocks from me. And why is it the lights are only seen during certain conditions? This light is approximately around east 90s I am on Central Park West near 97th.
I live in New Jersey now but have an unobstructed view of midtown Manhattan. I saw white flashing lights in the sky that would also turn bluish and greenish. I saw this last night which was a pretty cloudy night. I also took videos of it…very strange
Yup, I saw it too. I am pretty sure it’s a weather related phenomena. I know for sure it is NOT from a bridge or building- Would bet $$$ on that!
Does anyone know how to add a video here?
Hi Lisa, you can’t add a video in the comments, but if you’d like to send it to us, please feel free to email us here.
Thank you, I sent it to you. I live on W 100th and see this frequently.
Lisa this is exactly what I saw last night and last Saturday. Looking for a reasonable explanation for it.
Ok, umm I live around manhattan east side not far from central at all. I know alot of people wanna create logical explanations when it comes to things, but somtimes we have to be real with ourselves and understand that there are just some things that we can’t place a logical explanation on. I started seeing these lights late last year around late August these lights are strange and do move with the clouds for me I see alot of lights around the sky and the sky doesn’t look normal like it use to. I have tons of videos and pictures as well. These aren’t normal two lights appeared last night they like spit into two but lit up at once all those colors and on the other side the sky also lights up it recently started turning green. It’s weird. These lights appear often.
I found this cause I was curious, I knew I could have been the only one seeing these lights. And many are seeing them from different locations, it’s not from a bridge I’m telling you
Our educational system has failed us. People will believe anything.
There’s much mention of this phenomenon being associated with cloudy skies. That makes perfect sense: without clouds/fog/haze/mist, the source of the light (whatever it may be) would essentially be visibly only directly, whereas with such conditions it can be reflected & refracted over a larger area, making it more conspicuous. (Similarly, a laser beam in a vacuum is invisible when viewed from the side, but add a little smoke — or, if the laser is sufficiently powerful, merely air — and lo!, there it is.) In theory, light could be bounced across town from cloud to cloud, making a single source appear in multiple spots.
I’ve observed such sights for decades in my night-time walks through the city. Almost invariably, it turned out to be the Empire State Building, especially when it does its too-infrequent, full-blown psychedelic light-show routine. When not the ESB, it’s usually been especially gaudy searchlights promoting the latest hit whatever, or occasionally some other tower (e.g., the Printing Crafts Building) getting in on the ESB act.
But if anyone would care to focus on eliminating the obvious candidate, next time you see the mystery light, try correlating it with https://www.esbnyc.com/about/live-cam . Maybe that’s the answer. I doubt it’s Klattu.
I believe it’s the New York Hall Of Science in Corona Park. Last fall we saw a number of New York Film Festival screenings at the Queens Drive-In which is right next to the Hall Of Science. On a cloudy night you can clearly see the vertical shaft of color shifting light emanating from the building.
It’s the Kosciusko Bridge on the BQE…I am on 76/Amsterdam and looking straight across the park can see the lights whenever the clouds are low. It’s actually visible right at this very moment 🙂