Mysterious smoke ring in Kansas was likely man-made
A mysterious, dark smoke ring was seen over Kansas on Monday, but scientists say smoke rings like this are usually man-made.
A mysterious, dark smoke ring was seen over Bonner Springs, Kansas, on May 5, but scientists say smoke rings like this are usually man-made.
Frankie Roman Camren was riding his motorcycle on Monday evening in Bonner Springs, Kansas, when he saw something unexpected in the sky: a dark ring of smoke. He took out his phone to record it, uploaded a video to Facebook and asked "What the [heck] is this?"
"Let me start off by saying, it's been a little crazy," Camren said in a video message to AccuWeather on Facebook. "It's a smoke ring. I don't know what caused it. I've heard all sorts of stuff, from portals to aliens invading."
A smoke ring in the sky over Kansas on May 5, 2025. (Frankie Roman Camren)
Camren said that a friend of his sent the video to KAKE news in Wichita, which they uploaded to Facebook, and the rest is history. That video now has 1.2 million views.
A rare, but typically man-made event
While no one has a definitive answer for this particular event yet, most smoke rings have turned out to be man-made. Causes of similar rings range from a pyrotechnic effect called "Dragon's Breath" to a firework test in England.
A video from Burning Man in 2008 showed a homemade "trash can smoke ring" machine that created the effect. In 2012, an electrical transformer blew in Chicago, creating a smoke ring.
Nature can make smoke rings as well, but most commonly these form due to volcanoes emitting gases, forming rising, white smoke rings. Most recently, multiple volcanic smoke rings were seen over Mt. Etna in Italy on April 5, 2024.
Smoke rings over Mt. Etna, Sicily, Italy, on April 5, 2024. (Maria Liotta)
