METZ (57) 05.08.2013

On 5 August 2013 between 23:00 and 23:20, a witness in Metz saw 5 grouped yellowish lights moving rapidly through a stormy sky and apparently flickering. They turned left and disappeared from view. A few seconds later, another light appeared and followed the same route. GEIPAN regards the account as high quality, describing the observed positions as precisely as possible. It considers the description fully consistent with sky lanterns, a fairly common sight in cities on summer nights: orange balls moving continuously. Seen to the south-southeast, the objects headed east. However, the northwesterly wind did not exactly match the observed path. GEIPAN suggests local disturbances associated with the nearby Moselle and the hill of Plappeville immediately west of the witness. The weather record for Metz gives wind from the northwest at 16–30 km/h. The case is classified B: a probable sighting of sky lanterns.