CARBON-BLANC (33) 30.01.2015

On 30 January 2015 at about 19:00, a motorist on the Bordeaux ring road near Carbon-Blanc (33) was suddenly frightened by an extremely intense bluish light that filled his entire field of view; see his drawing. He heard no particular sound. Thinking it came from a rotating warning beacon, he checked his rear-view mirror for a vehicle but saw none. The radio carried no information about it. He continued driving in a daze. No other account was collected. GEIPAN considered 2 possible causes for the sudden, intense illumination lasting 2 seconds: a particularly powerful lightning flash or a fireball, described in the source as a meteorite fall. Lightning records showed strikes near the observation area that day, but only between 13:00 and 14:00; see the 2 Météociel records. The Bordeaux-Mérignac record showed overcast weather and a light west wind of 4–15 km/h, not fully matching the witness's report of rain and strong wind. His account favored lightning, which remained possible despite the lack of confirmation in the weather records. No fireball was recorded by automatic cameras that day, although almost all of France was cloud-covered at the time. GEIPAN classifies the case as C because information is insufficient to validate either explanation.