Purple haze in the sky over Delta, B.C., sets off awe, curiosity and questions

On the darkest nights of winter when the cloud cover is just right, there’s a purple haze above parts of Metro Vancouver and it has nothing to do with Christmas or Jimi Hendrix. 

Cathy Latremouille said she looked outside her Crescent Beach home in Surrey on Friday night to see what looked like a “great big candy floss sky.”

“I’ve never seen anything like it before,” said Latremouille. “It’s a good thing I don’t face south, I would have thought the United States was going up in flames.”

The magenta glow was a puzzle.

“I don’t think the aliens were landing, or anything,” chuckled Latremouille, a retired broadcaster. 

She asked the question as she posted a photo on Facebook and most agreed that the glow was coming from the greenhouses across Boundary Bay from her home. 

Greenhouse produce grower Windset farms said in a statement that there are a number of greenhouses in the Lower Mainland that use the colourful LED lights, but their greenhouses are equipped with light abatement screens to keep the light inside when its dark. 

“This is something we implemented, but it is not mandatory in the area,” the statement says.