Sighting in Laguiole, November 23, 2013

At around 6:45 pm, a witness saw a round, very bright, yellow-orange shape cross the cloudy sky in silence for about 15 seconds. It moved in a straight, horizontal line toward the west/south-west, and the corner of the house quickly hid it from view.

A yellow-orange ball moving horizontally on a Saturday evening suggests a Thai lantern released at the start of a party. However, the witness was in a very sparsely built-up residential area, and it is unclear where such a lantern could have been launched from to be carried by the north-west wind. The weather records for Rodez do show a strong north-west wind and a cloudy sky. The sighting was too brief to confirm or rule out this explanation. No other witness account was collected. Ball lightning was also considered, but it is very unlikely at that time of year, although the weather was very unsettled that day.

GEIPAN classified the case as C because of insufficient information.