In a small town in Kansas, USA, a strange black smoke ring appeared in the sky recently, astonishing local residents who described it as an “unprecedented phenomenon”.
This rare event occurred on Monday afternoon, May 5, when Bonner Springs resident Frankie Camren was riding his Harley-Davidson motorcycle through a rural area and suddenly saw a massive floating black ring in the air.
Camren, who is approaching 50 years old, told FOX Weather in an interview that he had never seen anything like it before. He immediately stopped and observed the phenomenon, capturing it on video.
From his footage, the huge “smoke ring” appeared as if outlined with black ink, with smoke seemingly swirling around the edges. “Can anyone tell me what this is?” he exclaimed in the video, “I didn’t use any special effects app… It looks like some black stuff is falling from the center.”
Initially suspecting it could be caused by fireworks or an explosive device, Camren did not hear any explosion on the scene.
After the video was shared on social media, it quickly sparked discussions and was widely reported by local TV stations. Camren said, “My phone is blowing up with messages.”
A female bystander in the video mentioned that when she first saw the black ring from a distance, she thought it was a flock of birds flying by.
FOX Weather, upon reviewing the video, suggested that the phenomenon was likely caused by some form of explosion. They likened it to the formation process of a mushroom cloud: when hot air rapidly rises, it traps the smoke around it, forming a circular ring due to the smoke’s faster movement speed compared to the surrounding air.
Camren added that residents in the nearby Tonganoxie area had also witnessed a similar but smaller smoke ring the day before.
It is worth noting that on March 29, a nearly identical black smoke ring appeared in Seattle. FOX 13 Seattle reported that the National Weather Service confirmed the phenomenon was not weather-related. A meteorologist who was watching a game at the Seattle Mariners’ stadium at the time also witnessed the event, which seemed to be related to an off-road motorcycle event held near the nearby sports arena.