Last night as I was leaving home in the evening, I looked up and saw these really bright vertical lights in the sky. I had never seen anything like it. I thought some swanky bash must be going on downtown and these must be some new high-tech laser searchlights to draw attention to the event. Then I noticed more of them… to my right… and to my left… all around me, 365 degrees! They were much taller than the ones in this picture. Totally breathtaking.

Everyone was talking about it, and local news stations received hundreds of calls.

I thought I was seeing the northern lights for the first time, but apparently they are called “light pillars” and they are formed by ice crystals in the air reflecting man-made light sources on the ground. The pillars were yellow and green and orange and pink, much like the northern lights are. Fascinating!

More info on the phenomenon here.