(OPINION) Videos on the internet show the sky over the port city of Zhoushan, China turning a deep red on Saturday. The audio recorded panicked residents shouting in alarm.
The phenomenon’s cause was not immediately known, leading to much speculation ranging from natural causes to the mystical. The Zhoushan Meteorological Bureau blamed the foggy weather and lights from ships: “When weather conditions are good, more water in the atmosphere forms aerosols which refract and scatter the light of fishing boats and create the red sky seen by the public,” the bureau said in a statement.
Officials in the area also confirmed that no fire was reported in the port city at that time. One popular clip that has been shared by several people but appears to have originated from the Chinese social media website Weibo shows a view of the sky from a residential street.
As people stand and talk, the camera pans across the sky showing the blood-red color, which appears brighter towards the horizon. Other clips, which appear to show the same phenomenon, also show a deep blood red sky with a bright source somewhere close to the horizon.
🔴CHINA :#VIDEO STRANGE RED SKY OVER ZHOUSHAN, ZHEJIANG PROVINCE!
The meteorological bureau of #Zhoushan said on Sunday that the red sky that appeared was caused by the refraction and scattering of light most likely from ship lights in the port#Flash #RedSky pic.twitter.com/8YOZvPcHla
— loveworld (@LoveWorld_Peopl) May 8, 2022
Individual clips have gained tens of thousands of views. The clips were attributed eerie significance by some, including Twitter user Anonymous Operations who wrote: “In the Chinese urban district of Zhoushan, it seems that the apocalypse has begun.” They also fueled conspiracy theories, with other users pushing unevidenced narratives around clandestine government activities.
As to the cause, the Global Times reported that meteorologists had spoken to local media to explain why the phenomenon might have occurred. They said that since it was foggy, cloudy, and drizzling around the time of the red sky, the color might have been caused by the reflection of light from fishing boats on low-level clouds.
