Impressive light pillars recorded over the city of Tyumen in Western Siberia

Local resident and photographer Yevgenia shared pictures and video of the spectacular natural phenomenon, recorded at the beginning of December in Tyumen. 

Dozens of vertical lights appeared in the sky just before midnight, and were visible for several minutes, prompting many residents to rush outside to enjoy the sight. 

She posted on her Instagram: ’It was exactly midnight and quite cold outside, -15C degrees. I quickly grabbed the camera, pulled on my pants, put a pair of the most compact lenses in my jacket pockets, 50mm and 35mm, and run outside.

‘My hands were stiff from the cold, but I managed to capture the lights!

‘They disappeared before my eyes. It was the middle that vanished first, and then this emptiness from the middle began to creep up and down, gradually eating up the pillars.’

Light pillars are more common for higher latitudes than Tyumen; for them to appear several weather conditions like air temperature below zero, presence of diamond-shaped ice crystals with smooth edges in the air and a slight wind should coincide. 

Like the Northern Lights, pillars of light are common during the Arctic winter and in recent weeks they were observed on the Yamal Peninsula.

They are formed from reflection of ice ‘flakes’ suspended in the air, so that during their appearance the light particles are not exactly where they appear, but are a reflection of the original source of the photons, which can be the Moon, the Sun or the public lighting.