Possibility of Being said:
Olesya said:
Was it this one? "4,000 tons of shells explode in Central Russia, leave mushroom cloud-like plume of smoke" (PHOTOS, VIDEO) published October 9, 2012 _http://rt.com/news/weapons-depot-fire-orenburg-982/
Controversy surrounding the explosions
Initial reports suggested that a fire at the facility’s loading dock set off shells stored on a train for disposal.
That statement was later disputed by the Press Service of Russia’s Defense Ministry, which claimed that no one was injured or went missing in the incident. The ministry also denied that a train loaded with shells was at the testing range, saying only three shells exploded. It was later revealed that over 4,000 tons of shells detonated.
Local authorities later suspected a breach of safety regulations could have caused the explosions.
[...]
Other military-related accidental explosions have occurred in the region. On September 27, a missile disposal group commander was killed during disposal work at the Totsk testing range. On September 13, two military service members were injured in an accidental missile explosion at the Donguz testing range. Two more soldiers were injured during disposal efforts at Donguz on August 30.
I remember that one. The shock wave was felt some 300 km away if I remember correctly. And remember having read back in Oct last year on a local Russian forum about the other similar explosions in that region preceding that of Oct 9th. So it would confirm the last paragraph quoted above. We can't know for sure what kind of forces are at work there, but considering the number of similar events in close proximity, blaming those explosions on comets/meteorites may be a bit of stretching things. "A breach of safety regulations" could be a polite way of saying they are just not cautious over there. But as I said, it doesn't mean there is no symbolism to it and/or no other forces involved messing up with our reality in one way or another. Fwiw...
I do agree with you, Possibility of Being, it's difficult to say what kind of forces at work here. Although, that all of these accidents happen to be very close to each other in time an place seems strange to me. However, maybe, it happened because the ammunitions are really old, and, probably, corroded, and in the state of disintegration, so any small thing can set them off? I read on Sott page Joan's comment something like, "who would smoke cigarettes near the place with ammunitions stored in it?" Well, it is possible. I'm Russian, so I do know how Russian people think and act sometimes in "byla ne byla" (que sera sera) sort of way.
What I actually was more interested in is this article _http://vz.ru/news/2013/6/16/637407.html posted by Keit and the events surrounding meteor explosion over Chelyabinsk.
I translated it. Here it is ( sorry, I couldn't do a better job):
"Scientists explained the nature of the bright luminescence (glow) in the sky over Chelyabinsk (video)"
[or maybe, "Scientists named the cause of the bright glow in the sky over Chelyabinsk"]
June 16, 2013, 12:55
On Sunday night, a bright glow appeared in the sky over Ural region which reminded the people who witnessed the event of Aurora Borealis, although such phenomenon is usually not observed in this region.
Meanwhile, the experts define the phenomenon observed by Chelyabinsk residents as noctilucent clouds which are formed in the mesosphere at the altitude of 80-90 km, and become visible only when illuminated by the sun when it's below horizon, while the lower layers of the atmosphere are in the Earth's shadow. That was what Vladimir Surdin, a Senior Researcher at Sternberg Astronomical Institute, told the Russian News Service.
"What was observed by the residents of Southern Urals at nighttime on June 16 is quite rare atmospheric phenomenon. Scientists call it silvery clouds, Noctilucent clouds in Latin (nighttime luminescent clouds). These clouds are visible exactly at these latitudes – the latitude of Moscow, Chelyabinsk - from 45 to 60 degrees north and south from the equator. The exact nature of this phenomenon is not completely clear (understood). These clouds are formed very high in the sky at the altitude of 80-90 km. Apparently, they consist of ice crystals. But how do water vapors appear at such great hights in the stratosphere? And what causes crystallization? Perhaps, it is [due to] some fragments of meteorite destroyed in the upper layers of the atmosphere, or maybe, to some extent, it's due to the ashes from powerful volcanic eruptions," the expert says.
This phenomenon can be observed, he explains, when "the sun had already dipped (set) below horizon; the sky is nighttime sky, but the sun rays coming out from below horizon still illuminate upper layers of the atmosphere, [and] illuminate these very thin clouds from beneath. This usually occurs during the summer solstice."
However, due to a number of reasons, particularly, weather conditions, the silvery clouds are not seen very often. According to Surdnia's observations "in Moscow, they can be observed approximately once in 4 years."
This phenomenon reminded the Chelyabinsk residents of the events that occured on February 15 of this year, when meteorite exploded in the sky over the city. This event has resonated broadly throughout the global information space as a result of numerous video recordings of the event appearing on the Internet."
I also found another one about the noctilucent clouds over Miass, a town 100 km away from Chelyabinsk, June 15, 2013 _http://strangesounds.org/2013/06/noctilucent-clouds-create-eerie-lights-over-miass-in-russia-june-15-2013.html
Residents of Miass, a small Russian city 100 km from Chelyabinsk in southern Ural observed an unusual light phenomenon in the sky over the city. This strange light phenomenon known as noctilucent clouds was observed during several hours. If you believe what is written in the video description, northern lights (green and red) were also visible (maybe at the back below the clouds (blue)!It is pretty unexpected to see such cloud formation as well as other northern lights phenomenon in this area, since they normally occur 1,000 kilometers further north.
On Sott page here http://www.sott.net/article/250750-Increased-meteor-smoke-Noctilucent-clouds-brightening-and-spreading-south it says that noctilucent clouds are brightening and spreading south, therefore it's quite possible, even likely.
Here _http://www.russiaslam.com/2013/stories/clouds-glow-over-meteor-town-chelyabinsk.html there is a description of the clouds (and their differences in appearance) n Miass and Chelyabinsk:
For several hours last night, the sky over the Chelyabinsk Oblast lit up in bright white and red stripes, reminiscent of the northern lights. A video of the spectacle over Miass appeared online. The glow disappeared before dawn.
“After midnight, the sky over Miass stayed blue for a few hours. At 2am it was still glowing. No one knew what it was”, noted the video’s author.
The “lights” appeared after midnight in Chelyabinsk. The glow was not as bright as in Miass. It showed up in precise lines.
“My friends and I were returning home along Lenin Prospect when we saw the light in the sky. At first we decided that another meteorite was flying by, or perhaps a spotlight. But the colorful streaks of light stayed in place, I’m sure it was the northern lights. As far as I remember, they’ve never been in Chelyabinsk”, Aleksandr Kazantsev told the website “Perviy Oblastnoj” [First Regional].
The northern lights can last from two minutes to a few days. Therefore, there is a chance to see them again tonight in the Chelyabinsk Oblast.
“In this case, most likely, people saw the phenomenon of noctilucent clouds,” said Sergei Ganov, a specialist of the Institute of Geodesic Analysis, to a Ridus.ru correspondent. “It is possible to observe them in the Northern Hemisphere only in the summer months, usually between the middle of June and the middle of July, and only between 45 and 70 degrees latitude, and in most cases between 55 and 65 degrees latitude, and well, the coordinates of Chelyabinsk are 55 deg 09 min N, 61 deg 24 min E, so everything matches up with this idea.”
