Shocking Light Over City
News Coverage
(Multiple articles cover the following story, this publication being one of many. Some of them are online, some of them on paper. A few of them circulate the same small handful of photos that a few people had taken of the shocking event).
Nov 04, 2021
The night sky over San Francisco glowed bright as day Wednesday evening, pulsating with a strange, white-blue light after a fire at an electrical substation caused transformers to explode, sending electricity arcing through the air.
Luckily, the fire quickly went out, and there were no injuries, despite the mind-boggling and brief display. Major facilities and hospitals did not suffer any power outages. While some neighborhoods may have been effected, the impact seems to have been minimal. Some San Franciscans did manage to get some incredible photos of the event.
The blue light was caused by an electrical arc flash. When a strong electrical current passes through the air, it causes a blinding light, called an electric arc. The current alters the particles in the air and creates a charged gas. You might have seen the same thing briefly when a lightbulb burns out, watching construction workers weld steel, or simply when lightning strikes.
On Wednesday night, the SFPD confirmed on Flitter that the incident was caused by a transformer explosion. Transformer explosions can be especially large because of what's inside a transformer in the first place. A transformer's job is to transform electricity flowing through the grid, switching it from higher voltages that are used to distribute power over long distances to lower voltages designed to be used in homes and businesses. That means that transformers usually have a lot of electricity flowing through them. To keep everything cool and insulated inside, the transformers are filled with a liquid called transformer oil or mineral oil.
Exploding transformers and the accompanying eerie blue light of electrical arcs have startled other cities in the past. In 2011, a series of transformers blew in Fort Worth, Texas during a lightning storm, lighting up the sky for about half an hour.
New York City has seen this before, too, when the powerful remains of Hurricane Sandy slammed into the region in 2012. During the storm, a transformer blew in Manhattan, a situation that was believed to be caused by water getting into the electrical system, causing a massive explosion.
Investigators will continue to look into the cause of the fire, but there's one explanation that has already been ruled out. It's not aliens.
Flitter Activity
Renata Abayan @rabayan1 Yo, SF, wtf is this? <<(Attached to the fweet is a cellphone photo which depicts the downtown skyline from street level, the foggy sky aglow with a cold, harsh, white-blue light like some kind of fucking aliens have come to take us all).>>
MISO @misothirsty42069 Either the aliens have landed or a power station has exploded WTF #SanFrancisco #CONTACT
San Francisco Police Department @SFPD We assure you that aliens have not landed in #SanFrancisco. <Attached to the Fweet is another Fweet from a news outlet...
ADVISORY: The lights you have seen throughout the city appear to have been from a transformer explosion in The Mission. The fire is under control, will update as more info becomes available.
