High Strangeness

Strange smoke ring emerges from cloud

Tom Rose
Gather
Tue, 17 Jul 2012 08:20 UTC

Still from video

A strange UFO video was posted to YouTube which shows what looks like a giant blowing smoke rings through the clouds. What is it?

The video, which studies the unusual phenomenon in slow motion and zoomed in segments, doesn't fit any of the usual categories for unidentified flying objects. But it's one of the coolest videos ever to hit the web.

In it, the camera is focused on a section of cloud over an unidentified locale. Suddenly, a giant smoke ring blows out the top, looking exactly as if it was blown by a cigar smoker. But it would have to be a smoker with a mouth 1000 feet wide.

Of course, only the YouTuber who posted this video is claiming this is some kind of UFO camouflage tactic. But, so far, even the channel comments are not coming up with a plausible explanation. Is it an eruption from a volcano? It seems too pristine a cloud to be a fiery volcanic belch.

So, what is it?

Here's the video:

Reader Comments

Dragon · 2012-07-18T09:23:52Z

Artillery

It's not as slow mo as you might think; closer to real time actually. The smoke ring is only about 50 meters wide, and was caused by heavy artillery firing through a fog bank. The first part of the shot is edited out.

Marctavius · 2012-07-18T09:27:58Z

That would definitely explain it. I wondered why he was filming an otherwise normal cloud formation to begin with.

LewiePaine · 2012-07-18T09:46:32Z

A Possible Explaination

...but I see no way of calculating "The smoke ring is only about 50 meters wide..."

Dragon · 2012-07-18T10:26:54Z

Re: A Possible Explanation

It's not a matter of "calculating" it, but of remembering by an old vet whose ears still ring after many years, and of recognizing the smoke ring from heavy artillery. In fact, 50 meters is a bit too large. Make that more like 20, or 30 meters.

Since we see the ring come up through a low fog bank, I'm guessing the video was taken from one of the artillery ranges on the west coast, in southern Ca.; Most likely, it was US Marines practice firing from the beaches near San Diego.

If the first couple of seconds hadn't been edited out the video you'd have seen the muzzle flash, and perhaps even the streak of the round itself across 1 or 2 frames.