I've never seen a sunset without some clouds. So , go ahead and show me your reference that day had no clouds.
NEVER?????? That is a pretty definitive statement isn't it? I guess you don't watch many sunsets. To add to this, the dry desert air of Arizona tends to make the air clear with very few clouds. Do you want me to show you some pictures of sunsets without clouds? Here is one from Tuscon, AZ:
http://activerain.com/image_store/uploads/9/1/9/8/1/ar120653259918919.jpg
No clouds are present, which means clear sunsets do occur. I am sure you can show me plenty of sunsets with clouds but you must realize that many of these are artistic in nature. An ordinary clear sunset is not as dramatic as one with clouds reflecting the suns light. The colors are far more appealing to the eye when cumulus or high clouds are present.
What you seem to fail to understand are the type of clouds visible in the pictures. I am not a weather expert but from what I can tell, they appear to be stratus type clouds. These tend to block out the sun and sky and only leave patchy clear spots. They also tend to occur before and after complex weather patterns (i.e. fronts, thunderstorms, low pressure systems, etc.).
According to the Syracuse Herald (March 14, 1997 issue) the weather report that day from Phoenix was clear. This agrees with all the newspaper archives I have access to on-line. All report the same thing. That being the weather in Phoenix was clear. It was not mostly or partly cloudy but clear. These are the weather maps for the dates in question (March 13, 1997 is on the right). There are no weather patterns in Arizona that would bring in Stratus clouds.
Additionally, I looked up the weather observation form for Phoenix that day from the internet. The observations conducted at 5PM showed no precipitation for the dates in question. In fact, most of the month of March was a very dry with ony a trace of rain being recorded.
I also went to the NOAA weather maps for the days in question.
http://docs.lib.noaa.gov/rescue/dwm/data_rescue_daily_weather_maps.html
Now the data recorded is for 7AM on the 13th and 14th. Again, no significant cloud cover is recorded. One would expect a layer of stratus clouds to at least be mentioned or noted somewhere.
The NEXRAD radar image for that date was at 2300Z (about 4PM local time).
http://www4.ncdc.noaa.gov/cgi-win/wwcgi.dll?WWNEXRAD~Images2
It records any significant precipitation. Again, there is no indication of any precipitation in the area. Let's tack on the testimony of the eyewitnesses. All indicated the night was very clear. Fortson saw the moon and many reported seeing the stars that night. Stratus clouds would have prevented seeing stars and the moon from being seen.
The only thing I don't have is the actual satellite image for the date in question. Archives do not go back that far. Since you are the one supporting the claim that this is a video taken on the 13th of March, you have to demonstrate it was on the 13th of March. I have presented evidence that the weather was clear that night and all you have is the claim of the videographer that there was a significant amount of cloud cover that evening. The facts do not support this claim. Feel free to demonstrate there were clouds present in significant quantity and of the type recorded on the tape.
The issue is that there is evidence for a hoax in this video tape. If the videographer, who makes money off of selling his tapes of the phoenix lights, can lie about the date in question, he certainly can lie about it's authenticity. As best I can tell, the video did not even surface until many years later, which is also a red flag. Wouldn't somebody who recorded the Phoenix lights on their video camera want it to appear on the Discovery channel or local media? Wouldn't he want to present this evidence to Village labs? Wouldn't he want to present it to MUFON? None of this happened. Suddenly, years later, he produces this video and sells it as part of a DVD. When you couple this with the weather data, it sends out all sorts of red flags and cries "hoax".
