Mysterious UFO Lit Up By Lightning In A Thunderstorm, UFO Hunter Claims [Video]

A UFO hunter claiming to have video footage of a UFO that appeared during a thunderstorm and disappeared just seconds later has seen their clip go viral on YouTube. But the video, which is labeled an “Analysis,” seems to be a few facts shy of an accurate assessment. Some observant viewers are claiming the video is a fake. Others are saying that not only is the UFO not real, it is CGI (computer-generated imagery). But the UFO video might not be a fake at all — just inaccurate.

The Sun reported this week that a video posted on February 18 on YouTube channel UFO Today has taken criticism for being fake, a product of CGI manipulation. The purported UFO video caught a few minor barbs with viewers mocking the shaky camera and for not being specific with a location (posting that the clip was filmed somewhere in the United States).

Regardless, the video footage itself is “fascinating,” according to The Sun, showing what appears to be a huge disk among a mass of dark clouds. The footage runs for only a minute, with the disk being seen, according to UFO Today, for just 30 seconds.

From the video “UFO uncloaking after thunderstrike – Video Analysis”: “During a recent thunderstorm in the US a UFO appeared. It uncloakt after a thunderstrike. It’s not clear whether the UFO got hit by the lightning strike or whether it was using the lightning for it’s energy. After the lightning strike the UFO becomes visible for a 30 seconds and illuminates the sky and the surrounding area. Then a second lightning strike is heard and the UFO dissappears. When the UFO disappears the area turns dark again. A great UFO sighting.”

UFO Today concludes by asking, “Did the UFO open up a portal in order to travel to another dimension?”

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xLxRSso0gB8

There are two obvious problems with the video. First, just before the lightning flash, the disk is illuminated, although UFO Today claims in the “analysis” that the object could not be seen prior to the lightning strike (mistakenly called a “thunderstrike” by UFO Today). This is pointed out in the comment section. However, the object can still be seen through the mist after it supposedly disappears as well, which places doubt on the analyzing abilities of the poster as well.

Still, the presence of the object before and after the lightning strike does not mean the video is a fake or that the image is CGI.

Besides, the video is not a lone clip of this sort of object. Take, for instance, the video of the mysterious cloud that appeared over Moscow in 2009 that was thought by some to be a UFO. Some thought it was a sign of doomsday. RT reported that scientists were baffled by the mysterious phenomenon, calling it an “optical illusion,” and had ruled out that it was caused by chemicals. An investigation was underway to determine if the glowing cloud object was caused by weather conditions.

In fact, that is what it was. In the comment section, Peter Young, who says he has 20 years experience as a Weather Observer, explained the phenomenon as a “fairly common annular formation in altostratus cloud.” He called it a “cloud hole.”

The phenomenon is also known as a Fallstreak hole, a skypunch, even a hole punch cloud. It occurs when the water temperature in clouds is below freezing but the water does not freeze but remains supercooled. Then ice crystals form, sometimes by the passage of an aircraft (per the Weather Channel), and a domino effect occurs that causes the water droplets around the crystals to evaporate, usually leaving a circular hole in the cloud.

And still, although the UFO Today video might not actually be that of a mysterious UFO, it might not be a fake, either, the inaccuracies of the clip notwithstanding. Perhaps the UFO hunter channel can be given the benefit of the doubt.

[Featured Image by Arturo Escorza Pedraza/Shutterstock]