Was it the northern lights? Was it an alien invasion? Hmm.
HIGHLAND PARK, Texas — A peculiar red glow was reported across the Dallas sky late Wednesday night.
And the visual certainly caught the eyes of WFAA viewers, who reached out to us on the meteorology team with questions about the ‘Stranger Things’-looking sky.
So, naturally, I had to dig into it and solve this mystery. And, now, I’ll walk you through my findings.
First, let’s take a look at the evidence.
The Evidence: A look at the photos we received
See that red hue behind those Highland Park homes?
No, that’s not a sunset… although it does kind of look like one!
Question 1: What was the weather like on Wednesday?
This felt like the obvious first stop as a meteorologist.
After looking at numerous pictures, it was clear this light wasn’t coming from the cosmos. So, no, it wasn’t the northern lights.
This light, whatever it may be, was clearly coming from the terrestrial surface, being reflected off the bases of the widespread, low cloud cover we had in the area Wednesday night.
Question 2: Which direction were these photographers facing when taking their pictures?
I had to know exactly where the pictures were taken by our viewers, and which direction their cameras were facing when they were taken, too.
We found the picture from a viewer named Marc was taken while he was facing south from near NorthPark Center. Another picture, sent by a viewer named Claire, was taken from Lower Greenville facing north.
Aha! This was great starting point. Something in the middle had to be the culprit. Right?
Question 3: Well, what is in the middle?
Between Claire and Marc’s locations, there is a lot of stuff. But one thing really sticks out is right in the middle: SMU.
So, on a hunch, I called SMU to see if they had anything going on Wednesday night that might be responsible for the bright red light.
It would make sense, right? SMU loves to show their spirit with red.
Turns out, that was indeed the answer: SMU was playing with the lights at its football stadium at the same time as when our viewers took their pictures.
“We were doing some videoboard testing,” said SMU spokesperson Herman Hudson. “We weren’t taking photos, [but] I have some photos from other days when we had [Gerald J. Ford Stadium] lit up in red.”
He sent me the below photo for a peek at what the school’s football stadium looks like when they’re doing testing along the lines of what they were doing on Wednesday.
The gigantic video board and much of SMU stadium was lit up in red, and that bright, red light it emitted reflected off the low clouds to created a strange-looking sky for folks in Dallas.