NUFORC Sighting 02877

Occurred: 1995-01-07 14:00 Local
Reported: 1997-11-16 00:00 Pacific
Duration: <1 minute
No of observers: 1

Location: Lake Grove (Portland Metro), OR, USA

Shape: Disk

Summary : Round silvery disk quickly passing from W to E in a straight line

I was enjoying the weather from my second- floor apartment deck on that fine Saturday July 1, 1995 afternoon. The 2pm (PDT) sky was partly cloudy, mostly evenly scattered cumulus with a clear blue sky behind them. I am sometimes given to looking straight up into the sky in search of high-flying raptors or other soaring birds. As I looked directly overhead,I noticed something moving well above the cumulus clouds. It was a silvery object about the size of a dime held at arm's length moving in an unwavering straight line from west to east. I watched as it passed behind the clouds which were moving so slowly as to appear to be completely still. I would not want to hazard a guess as to its altitude or airspeed. My first thought was that it was simply a weather balloon. (In fact, I'm still leaning towards that explanation.) As I studied it I wondered if it was in fact not silver, but translucent. It had a bluish cast but was darker around a well-defined edge and had no irregularities in its shape or surface. However, a few things didn't rest well with me. I've seen weather balloons in flight before and this wasn't like either of them. This was perfectly round and had no visible payload. The others I had seen weren't nearly so symmetrical and were visibly balloons with something suspended underneath. Also, given that this object was well above the clouds, it would have been a *very* large balloon. As far as I know, there aren't any launch sites west of Portland used for such launchings. (That may just be my ignorance in this instance; the only launch site for high- altitude balloons that I know of is near Palestine, Texas.) I found it odd that it moved so much faster than the lower clouds, though of course the possibility of the jet stream comes to mind. I was also impressed that it moved in such a straight line. It covered about 30 degrees of the sky in 4-5 seconds. It disappeared behind a solid line of clouds banked up against Mt. Hood and the Oregon Cascades to the east. I have no idea if this was a *real* UFO or not. In fact, the most remarkable aspect of this incindent may simply be that I saw an ordinary thing in a place most people wouldn't ordinarily look--straight overhead--without some other motivation. It just to be odd enought to warrant reporting to you. Had I known how to contact anyone regarding this prior, I would have. When the UFO Center was on the news with the space junk reentry story, I knew where to go. If you need more info, contact me via email. Thanks!

Posted 1999-01-28