VALLEIRY (74) 12.07.2014

On 12 July 2014 at about 23:50, a driver and passenger in Valleiry (74) saw 7–8 round yellow-orange lights pass silently across the sky. The witness took photographs. GEIPAN considers balls crossing over a few minutes on a weekend night strongly suggestive of sky lanterns probably released nearby after a private celebration. The photographs fit this well. The objects moved north to south. Geneva records show weak, unstable wind: northerly at 21:00, westerly at 22:00, southerly at 23:00 and southwesterly at 00:00. Very local mountain winds are also complex late in the day. GEIPAN cannot reconstruct the local wind precisely enough to confirm or reject windborne motion. The case is classified B: probable sky lanterns; see Météociel for the observation date.