The sky over New York City was filled with strange blue lights on Thursday night, shocking locals and causing wild speculation on social media. People thought it was everything from an alien invasion to the crowning of a new Pizza Rat. The real answer turned out to be much more mundane.
A transformer explosion at the Con Ed substation in the Astoria area of Queens caused the strange light show. No one was injured but LaGuardia Airport lost power, grounding flights. Several homes in the area also briefly lost power and the No. 7 train was delayed.
Here’s another video I shot of apparent #explosion @ConEdison #transformer in #Astoria #Queens #NYC – this shows beautiful aqua sky over East River and #ChryslerBuilding pic.twitter.com/dAFBiEkdyF
— Sylvan Solloway Carrera (@SylvanSolloway) December 28, 2018
Light show over northern Manhattan just now? Plus distant humming? pic.twitter.com/28PilJtgJQ
— Samson Zhang (@wwsalmon) December 28, 2018
Blue skies in New York, what’s going on? 😱 pic.twitter.com/yBPKeYeh44
— Andres Rios (@andressrrios) December 28, 2018
Crazy pulsating blue light with plumes of smoke either from north-western Queens or just across the river pic.twitter.com/cUxiDtEF9l
— Dan Saltzstein (@dansaltzstein) December 28, 2018
https://twitter.com/carolynryan/status/1078488711384498176
“What people were seeing was an electric arc flash,” Bob McGee, a spokesman for Con Ed said, according to the New York Times. “The electrical arc of that magnitude is similar to a thunder and lightning event.”
The New York Police Department did not report a cause for the explosion but did rule out an alien invasion.
Confirming incident in #Astoria was result of transformer explosion. No injuries, no fire, no evidence of extraterrestrial activity. Please continue to follow @FDNY and @Conedison
— NYPD NEWS (@NYPDnews) December 28, 2018
Without a clear explanation, New Yorkers were happy to offer up their best guesses.
This one is the best!#bluelightnyc #Queens#InfinityWar pic.twitter.com/hwBqNPEXpU
— A’ron (@HipHopConfucius) December 28, 2018
Con Edison, Queens https://t.co/nouIQ7Z1bH
— Josh (@joshgetsmetight) December 28, 2018
Blue smoke in Queens means a new Pizza Rat has been chosen pic.twitter.com/JI8IBujbZB
— Zack Bornstein (@ZackBornstein) December 28, 2018
https://twitter.com/SopanDeb/status/1078495653804892161
It’s that scene from Ghostbusters. You know the one. https://t.co/GAv83uoSea
— Matt Higgins (@ByMattHiggins) December 28, 2018
Strange Blue Light over NYC skyline causes concern, early reports is issue at plant of some sort, other reports, well …Aliens 👽🛸 #bluelight #NYC # Aliens? pic.twitter.com/CE0ir1c4MG
— J Two (@TruthFiendTV) December 28, 2018
https://twitter.com/ClueHeywood/status/1078478916937965568
https://twitter.com/HerbMarselas/status/1078496546470031360
Stranger Things season 3 is going to be wild https://t.co/yDhFT6Koe7
— Josefa Velásquez (@J__Velasquez) December 28, 2018
https://twitter.com/JonLemire/status/1078477714485641217
The next morning, one man lamented the press for missing out on the perfect headline for the blue lights.
The fact that the Queens explosion isn’t on the cover with the headline “Astoria Borealis” is a dereliction of tabloid duty. pic.twitter.com/J9nM2nF0iF
— Jody Avirgan – mostly on threads (@jodyavirgan) December 28, 2018
Con Ed tweeted an apology to anyone who lost power and said that “powers lines servicing the area are stable.”
Last night’s electrical fault caused a sustained electrical arc flash & transmission disturbance. There were no injuries and all the power lines serving the area are stable. We apologize for the disruption to customers. Photo: Wall Street Journal. #Queens #Astoria pic.twitter.com/c6chBF4BFL
— Con Edison (@ConEdison) December 28, 2018
Con Ed also tweeted a picture of employees working on the problem in the Friday morning light, in case anyone suspected they were slacking off.
Con Edison workers near the equipment that failed at the substation in #Astoria, causing last night’s arc flash. https://t.co/exFdJq5R4y #Queens pic.twitter.com/n5U9vsn3Ny
— Con Edison (@ConEdison) December 28, 2018
So no aliens, no superhero battles, no wrath of god. It was just another day in New York City, and really, isn’t that exciting enough?
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