Glitch in the Matrix? Light pillars illuminate St. Petersburg skies (PHOTOS)

RT
Sun, 25 Feb 2018 11:13 UTC

© borozdin/instagram

Russia's St. Petersburg has witnessed an incredible light show by mother nature, which illuminated the sky with bright columns of light, turning the city into a winter wonderland.

Residents of Russia's 'Venice of the north' awoke early on Saturday morning to find the skyline glittering with strange colors. Yellow, red, blue and green laser-looking columns were visible across the city. At first, people thought that they were witnessing the northern lights, but the pattern of the luminescence suggested a different phenomenon.

The beauty, witnessed and admired by thousands, was in fact a rare atmospheric optical phenomenon caused by the freezing temperatures. Called a 'light pillar', the bright occurrence is caused by the interaction of light with ice crystals that are densely packed in the atmosphere of the cold air. With thermometers hovering around -20 Celsius (9 Fahrenheit) this time of the year, the light show is likely to come back to St. Petersburg

Comment: More pictures from Instagram on Sputnik:

With frosty weather showing no sign of ceasing in St. Petersburg, residents of Russia's northern capital have shared photos of an eyebrow-raising natural phenomenon.

St. Petersburg residents living in the city's Vyborg and Kalininsky Districts have spotted giant light pillars in the sky, which they first mistook for Northern Lights, according to local media.

This Instagram user published a photo of the light pillars under the northern lights hashtag, saying that the admiration "cannot be expressed in words."

Another user nicknamed "daryabat" also voiced joy about a "very beautiful phenomenon" which she said she first thought was Northern Lights.

Clearly our atmosphere is showing signs of serious change - evidently it's becoming colder:

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