Over the past few days, several videos showing a mysterious blood-red sky in China had been circulating on social media.
According to the posts, citizens of Zhoushan city of China’s east Zhejiang province witnessed the red sky on Sunday (8 May) and social media platforms like Weibo and Sina has since been flooded with videos showing an abnormal sky.
The videos showed the sky over the port city in crimson, largely owing to fog. Naturally, the lack of explanation for the apocalyptic-looking phenomenon has sparked concerns, curiosity and excitement among local residents as well as netizens around the world.
The sky over the Chinese city of #Zhoushan, near Shanghai turned blood red tonight.
— ZradaXXII (@ZradaXXII) May 9, 2022
I haven't found a reasonable explanation yet. pic.twitter.com/9TSwtIzCBM
Meanwhile, according to the local media, the red sky that appeared in Zhoushan city was caused by the refraction and scattering of light, most likely from ship lights in the port.
“It was foggy and cloudy in Zhoushan on Saturday and it was drizzling at the time of the red sky, which might have been caused by the reflection of light from the low-level clouds.”
“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,” a staff of the meteorological bureau was quoted as saying.
However, netizens were not convinced by that explanation and remained skeptical.
Some suggested that it was a result of suspicious activity such as weapons testing or simply pollution.
The others then cracked jokes about the television sitcom Wandavision, the end of the world as well as alien communication.
Some kind of Bomb testing?
— PurpleSmurf (@PurpleS09228741) May 10, 2022
Meanwhile, some netizens claimed that the red sky had appeared for as much as 9 days in many countries in 1770, which Japanese scientists claimed in an academic article in 2017 that it was caused by a massive solar activity.
However, an expert from the space physics research team of the China University of Geosciences in Wuhan told the media that solar and geomagnetic activity on Saturday was calm and there were no significant anomalies in solar activity.
He said that according to the observation records, the possibility that the geomagnetic and solar activity turned the sky red in Zhoushan was basically ruled out.
What do you think about this mysterious phenomenon? Share your thoughts in the comment section below!
