How would the sky light up green?

Could have been transformers overloading and exploding.

My first thought was an Aurora, but if it was overcast and youaren;t far noth, you would n’t see that.

It also sounds like St. Elmo’s Fire, but that is usually blue.

Close encounter of the second kind.

Meteor showers; invaders from Mars; but more likely it was the light of distant lightning as seen through sulfurous pollutants in the atmosphere. :-)

Was it a mild aurora borealis incident?

Wait, you said it lit up and then died out quickly. Distant fireworks?
Winter lightning? Thundersnow?

@zenvelo got it. I don’t know why, but when transformers blow they emit a giant green flash, sometimes with an orange lining. It can be seen for miles…

That,or the OP has an intracranial mass pressing on the back of their eyes. Hopefully it was a transformer.

I was thinking of what LuckyGuy said. How far north do you live?

Were there storms nearby? Sounds like an electrical storm.

But where would the green have come from @ARE_you_kidding_me?

From cloud to cloud lightning. It can appear green especially if the clouds have lots of hailstones.

I didn’t think of that. Yeah, the sky gets green when a hail storm is coming.

As for how far north I am; not very. I live in a town south of Montréal. Driving to New York takes less time than it does to Ontario.

@ARE_you_kidding_me There were no storms per se, but it’s been snowing and hailing this whole week. And last night we had pretty bad winds, took out the power for like 9000 people.

@LuckyGuy Certainly was not aurora borealis. I’ve seen that twice when my mom took me camping in Manitoba, they hang around and move slowly in the sky, this wasn’t like that at all.

So it was really cloudy and snowy? If so that’s probably what it was, pretty cool.

I would think you could see them from there @Berserker. I mean, you know better than me, but I’ve heard that on rare occasions they can be seen way down south, like Georgia

Here is some info specific to yesterday

Yeah, when I saw them with my mom in Manitoba, we weren’t all that up north either. (more than here though)

@ARE_you_kidding_me Yes, windy, snow and rain. Yesterday all the trees down by the bike path were covered in ice and they were drooping, making tunnels and the like. Was actually pretty cool.

It was probably lightening then. But really cool sounding!

Weird lightning then. It seemed so close (doesn’t mean it was, of course) but with no sound and no streaks.

Thats what electrical storms are like, I have only seen a few but they’re cool as hell.

We get at least one a year here. Nothing like being on top of a hill (in a car) with lightening crashing all around you, striking really close, sometimes.

The electrical storms I’m talking about don’t make sounds. It’s lighting the sky up all around you just like a thunderstorm only it’s silent.

^
And these can occur in Winter? If so, I’m prepared to accept that, as lightning is the closest thing this seemed like.

@zenvelo What is Saint-Elmo’s fire?

Yup, absolutely
Saint-elmo’s fire was a large build up of weather related charge that would discharge onto objects as they enter. Commonly on ships. Not what you saw.

@Berserker St Elmo’s fire is caused by a build up of plasma on a pointed object in an electrically charged atmosphere. It can happen on ships and airplanes, and also on antennas and lightning rods.

I was on a 727 that travelled through an electrical storm. The nose of the plane began to glow, and then discharged down the side of the plane. Happened about once every forty five seconds for about 15 minutes.

Were you scared @zenvelo?

@Dutchess_III I was 21 and thought it was neat. The older woman across the aisle was screaming. When we stopped for fuel in Chicago, she did not make the second part of the flight.

Scariest part was looking up the aisle to the front of the plan and seeing the front end twisting to the left while we in the back were flexing to the right.

Gosh. Sounds kind of…cool.