In the early evening of 26 November 2013, the residents to the west of the city of Montreal, Canada, were witness to an unusual event in the region's heavily overcast and snow-filled skies (Fig. 1). Just prior to 20:00 EST (01:00 UTC on 27 November) residents began to report seeing a bright, transient, and distinctly blue flash in the sky. This flash was bright enough to briefly illuminate the otherwise overcast and featureless skies of the region. Several minutes later, this flash was accompanied by an explosive sound, rumbling, and apparent tremors as described by many eyewitnesses, including at least one pilot of an airborne commercial aircraft (Spears, 2013). Many of these eyewitnesses quickly turned to social media to express their observations and surprise. Not long after, news media were reporting on the event and looking for any confirmation from expert and trustworthy sources on the event's occurrence and its source, as no video or photographs of the event had surfaced, likely because of the heavy cloud cover over the region.
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