Dazzling moment an electrical fault caused a huge ‘PLASMA ARC’ that turned the New York skyline an intense blue on Thursday night – grounding flights, shutting off power and causing city-wide confusion

Friday, December 28, 2018
By Paul Martin

New York skyline turned a bizarre blue on Thursday night after an electrical fault at a Con Edison plant
Utility said Friday the fault produced what is known as electrical arc flash
Electrical arc is a visible plasma discharge between two electrodes caused by electrical current ionizing gasses in the air
Bewildered residents took to the streets and shared images on social media after the haze filled the sky
Power was cut at many addresses across the area including the nearby La Guardia airport
Flights were cancelled for more than an hour after the power cut, causing chaos during a busy travel week
Officials at the Rikers Island jail were also forced to use backup generators when their electricity shut off
There were no injuries in the blast, the fire was quickly contained, and many saw the lighter side of the fire
The NYPD jokingly confirmed that aliens had not invaded, while others shared memes from sci-fi movies

By SNEJANA FARBEROV
DAILYMAIL.COM
28 December 2018

New York City’s electric utility Con Edison this morning sought to shed some light on an eerie flash of blue light that illuminated the night sky on Thursday, revealing that it was due to a phenomenon similar to lightening known as an ‘electrical arc,’ which was caused by an equipment malfunction.

Con Edison said in a previous statement that a common transformer explosion at a substation in Astoria was responsible for illuminating the skies over New York a dazzling shade of blue.

In a follow-up statement released early Friday morning, the utility said that an electrical fault in equipment that carries 138,000 volts of electricity 20 feet up in the air at one section of the the Astoria East and North Queens power plant caused ‘a sustained electrical arc flash.’

An electrical arc is a visible plasma discharge between two electrodes – the one from which the current originates called the cathode and the one toward which electrons flow called the anode – that is caused by electrical current ionizing gasses in the air.

Controlled electrical arcs have many industrial and commercial applications, including in welding, plasma cutting, heating.

Con Edison spokesman Bob McGee compared the electrical arc to a thunder and lightening event in nature and said that it subsided on its own within minutes.

The incident last all of three minutes but resulted in power being cut to many addresses in Queen, including the nearby La Guardia Airport, which was forced to ground all flights for more than an hour during one of the busiest travel weeks of the year.

Officials at the notorious Rikers Island jail were also forced to use backup generators when their electricity shut off for 25 minutes, and there were delays on the No 7 subway line.

Bewildered residents took to the streets and shared images on social media after the haze filled the sky at around 9.20pm.

There were no injuries in the blast, the fire was quickly contained, and many saw the lighter side of the odd display in the sky.

The NYPD jokingly confirmed that aliens had not invaded, while others shared memes comparing scenes from science-fiction films.

The Rest…HERE

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