Mysterious object caught on radar above Washington DC has people ‘freaking out’ over terrifying theories

Earlier this week, a strange sight appeared on weather radar over Washington, DC, sparking panic, curiosity, and wild speculation across social media. As a major storm rolled into the region  bringing heavy rain, strong winds, thunder, and lightning  a green streak suddenly shot across radar screens, captured in real-time by people tracking the storm.

Among them was Kari Lake, a special advisor to the U.S. Agency for Global Media, who publicly shared the image and questioned what could be zooming across the radar at around 3:30 p.m. Her post went viral almost immediately, with dozens of users jumping into the conversation with dramatic, sometimes fearful theories.

Some people believed it was a sign of government weather manipulation. Others joked  or seriously claimed  it might be aliens, pointing to the streak’s speed and the timing of its appearance. A few speculated that it looked like a laser beam or some kind of energy weapon being used to “feed” or intensify the storm that was moving into the city.

These ideas, while lacking evidence, spread rapidly because the image was undeniably strange, and it happened in a high-security area like the U.S. capital, which always adds to the tension. Words like “creepy,” “unexplainable,” and “concerning” filled the replies. Some insisted the object was part of a military test, while others saw it as proof of something more secretive and threatening.

As the speculation grew louder, meteorologist and atmospheric scientist Matthew Cappucci stepped in with a calm, fact-based explanation. He has experience with this type of radar behavior and knew immediately that what people were seeing was not a mysterious object in the sky but rather a radar artifact, something well-known in the world of meteorology. He explained that the odd streak was likely the result of radar interference caused by a large structure located near the National Weather Service radar site in Sterling, Virginia, not far from Dulles Airport.

Radar works by sending out pulses of energy that bounce off objects in the atmosphere  usually rain, snow, or hail and return signals that show what’s happening in the sky. But if something solid like a tall building, water tower, or communication antenna sits in the path of the radar beam, it can deflect or scatter that energy in strange ways. When this happens, the radar can record “ghost” signals — shapes or streaks that aren’t real weather phenomena but glitches caused by the beam reflecting off unexpected surfaces.

In this specific case, Cappucci traced the glitch to a communications tower used by the airport’s fire department. The tower is tall and located directly in the radar beam’s path. When the radar energy hit it, especially during an active storm when the atmosphere is already filled with movement and energy, it caused the signal to bounce back in a distorted way. This created the green streak people saw racing across the map. On Google Maps, Cappucci even showed the actual tower and its shadow, proving it was a physical object interfering with the radar.

He also explained that this type of artifact isn’t unusual at all. In fact, radar systems frequently pick up non-weather signals. They can detect flocks of birds, swarms of insects, airplanes in flight, and even the trails of meteors. In other cases, weather conditions can bend radar beams in unexpected ways, creating echoes that look unusual but have perfectly natural explanations. While to the untrained eye these blips might seem mysterious or alarming, scientists understand how and why they happen. Cappucci made clear that this was not a UFO, not a government experiment, and not anything supernatural.

Despite this rational explanation, many people continued to be fascinated by the streak. It’s understandable  strange lights and unexplained signals over Washington, DC tap into a deep cultural history of suspicion and mystery. But in this case, the truth is simple: a tall tower interfered with a weather radar during a storm, creating a signal that looked dramatic but had a completely normal cause. The image may have looked like something from science fiction, but the science behind it is solid and well-understood by experts.

For meteorologists, it’s just another day at the office. For the public, it’s a reminder that not everything weird in the sky needs to be a secret or a threat. Sometimes, it’s just technology doing what it does — and nature adding a little drama to the scene.