Cannabis Farm Lights Were Mistaken For Aliens In Canada

Residents in Charlottetown, Prince Edward Island, have noticed a rare purple hue in the sky recently, and some have reported that aliens caused it.

We hate to burst their bubble, but it’s actually a cannabis grow operation that’s greenhouses use a specific type of lighting. Alex Smith, chief executive officer of FIGR East, said the purple hue in the sky is caused by LED lights his operation uses to grow cannabis, and it’s been there for quite a while.

The lights will turn on from 6 a.m. AT to 6 p.m. year-round, but residents have only noticed the lighting when daylight hours decrease during the recent winter months. Smith told CBC News that it’s easier to see their LED lights popping up when the days are shorter.

He adds that his company uses a “red, white, and blue spectrum,” which, after combined, can “make that kind of purple hue” seen around Charlottetown during the shorter and darker days. Smith mentioned that he recently noticed the lights when at home.

He added that someone made a comment to him, noting that they could see the lights from their home. Intrigued, Smith walked over to the end of his driveway, and “sure enough,” he could “see the lights popping up all over the skyline.”

Jay Scotland, a CBC meteorologist, said although the color of the sky is mostly determined by atmospheric conditions and the sun’s position, he said the combination of these two factors wouldn’t create a deep purple hue on their own.

Adding that it would be “quite rare” to see such a hue from a natural cause, Smith said he knows the weather is not responsible for the lighting. That said, low-hanging clouds could “help reflect or carry that purple light” over large areas during foggy and humid nights.

Smith added that although the LED’s are a perfectly plausible explanation for the purple hue, he was amused by the many speculations and rumors about what could have caused the rare lighting.

He’s been getting a kick out of what the public is marking up, “whether it’s aliens or the northern lights or something else.” He did note that the feedback he’s been getting is mostly positive.

Smith explained that the purple sky is not the result of a chemical reaction but a reflection of the mixture of colors used at the grow operation. He concluded that “There’s nothing harmful about it” and how it’s “literally just light reflection.”