UFO in CA?

[Debi]

A curious piece of footage from California appears to show a perfectly round object hovering in the sky over some houses and no one can quite figure out what it was. The puzzling scene was filmed in the city of Porterville by a YouTube user named 'jusdafide' at around 5:30 in the evening on February 1st. According to him, the oddity lingered in place for around thirty minutes and disappeared following sunset.

While the strange object seems to some kind of balloon, the witness was left wondering why, exactly, such a thing would be there. "That is a neighborhood of regular homes," he explained, "just a typical regular suburb. No reason for any balloons or advertisements to be floating over that area." This skepticism for the proverbial balloon theory is bolstered by his video wherein he watches the object and marvels "that is really weird. There's like no strings or anything. It's just floating."

Be that as it may, some kind of balloon, possibly of the weather variety, is probably the most likely explanation for the nature of the odd object as its perfectly spherical shape seems to cancel out other theories such as a drone. That said, since the anomaly has yet to be identified, a secret military test craft or an alien scout ship cannot be entirely ruled out. With that in mind, what's your best guess for what 'jusdafide' filmed over the city of Porterville?

Watch: Odd UFO Filmed in California - Coast to Coast AM

 

[Duke]

A curious piece of footage from California appears to show a perfectly round object hovering in the sky over some houses and no one can quite figure out what it was. The puzzling scene was filmed in the city of Porterville by a YouTube user named 'jusdafide' at around 5:30 in the evening on February 1st. According to him, the oddity lingered in place for around thirty minutes and disappeared following sunset.

While the strange object seems to some kind of balloon, the witness was left wondering why, exactly, such a thing would be there. "That is a neighborhood of regular homes," he explained, "just a typical regular suburb. No reason for any balloons or advertisements to be floating over that area." This skepticism for the proverbial balloon theory is bolstered by his video wherein he watches the object and marvels "that is really weird. There's like no strings or anything. It's just floating."

Be that as it may, some kind of balloon, possibly of the weather variety, is probably the most likely explanation for the nature of the odd object as its perfectly spherical shape seems to cancel out other theories such as a drone. That said, since the anomaly has yet to be identified, a secret military test craft or an alien scout ship cannot be entirely ruled out. With that in mind, what's your best guess for what 'jusdafide' filmed over the city of Porterville?

Watch: Odd UFO Filmed in California - Coast to Coast AM

Looks like a sounding balloon. I used to get catalogs from scientific supply/surplus companies, those very large latex balloons were pretty common. One of those catalogs was also the first place I ever saw a solar balloon for sale as well, they are what's accounting for the "tubular UFO" reports we see from time to time.

 

[crux]

Porterville is not far from China Lake Naval Air Weapons Station, a military facility for testing US Navy weapons.

 

[Lynne]

It does look strange. It must be large to show up at that distance.

 

[ElliO]

It looks orange? Most sounding balloons are white, but my best guess is still a large balloon- probably a signal marker for some kind of party. My neighbors in San Leandro do it all the time, they even have one that looks like a little blimp that says "Happy Birthday" on it.

 

[Duke]

It looks orange? Most sounding balloons are white, but my best guess is still a large balloon- probably a signal marker for some kind of party. My neighbors in San Leandro do it all the time, they even have one that looks like a little blimp that says "Happy Birthday" on it.

The Air Force Research Laboratory (AFRL) has, or at least had, a balloon launch operations group at Holloman AFB, NM. I saw them release both red and black balloons, but as you say, most were whitish. They also varied in size, I assume as a function of the package they were lifting. The test range where I observed them from was probably 3 miles away in the open desert, I never had the chance to watch a release from their facility.