>>7718115 (PB)
Experienced the same in Detroit a few years back ... also in winter. Looking north there was the rod illumination. I wondered who was getting smacked with a laser. Figured I'd hear about it on the radio if I was meant to know. Never heard about it and was just glad it wasn't me.
But about the same time the entire sky lit up bright orange ... like daylight. Shadows from the streetlights disappeared. Except for the hue, it was every bit as bright as on a sunny day -- I could see both ends of my block and well beyond. It being winter, the air was clear except for the clouds that were lit up. I suspect that the clouds were giving the light, possibly from electrical charges. The orange / yellow was about that of a sodium vapor streetlight.
No idea where the photos I took are. I'll scrounge around and see if I can find them.
I'm 67 years old and have NO frame of reference for what happened that night.