Residents of Snowflake, Arizona witnessed an unexpected light show late last week, news reports and social media updates show. The “purple haze” scene resulted from UV light pollution by medical cannabis cultivator Copperstate Farms, which operates just outside of town.
The photo was captured by local resident and Copperstate employee Cara Smith at 6:30 am on Friday morning; according to Smith, the purple UV glow is “always visible” on her way to work but the spectacular scene that morning was the usual glow reflecting off of low-hanging clouds and snow particles in the air.
“The purple lights are always there but don’t usually light up the sky like this. It had snowed that morning and was still very foggy and cloudy.” — Cara Smith, via CNN
Copperstate Farms operates on a 40-acre plot of greenhouse growing space and employs about 200 people from the area. Company representatives confirmed that the glow is because of the company’s use of red and blue UV lights.
Locals chimed in on the Navajo County Facebook page, where the photo first went viral, to share their thoughts. Many said the glow was beautiful, others complained of light pollution, and still others were skeptical that the amount of glow could even be due to cannabis grow lights — “What, are they growing cannabis for the gods?” asked one user.
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That greenhouse glow ❤️✨⠀ ⠀ ? : @crocquito⠀ ⠀ #sungrownwellness #copperstatefarms #az
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