Anyone else in Eastern Pennsylvania or Central Jersey experience “Close Encounters” skies last night? There had been severe thunderstorm warnings for the Princeton area, but beyond some ominous rumblings and darkening skies, there wasn’t much to show for it. It did get awfully dark.

Then shortly after 8:00, a strange orange glow infused my living space. I went outside and gazed straight up, and the strangest clouds were hovering over the building and billowing toward the north. It was like they were upside down, pregnant with foreboding, about to give birth to a funnel cloud or unveil a Spielbergian mothership. I never saw anything like it.

Unfortunately, I didn’t have the phone with me at the moment, and by the time I thought to run in and grab it, the formation had begun to change. But as I rounded the building was able to get some shots.

Not the same as being there, of course, and these clouds were nowhere near as uncanny as those that loomed directly overhead. If ever I were going to be abducted by alien forces, yesterday evening would have been it.