Weird New Years Eve

We've all heard about the blue moon phenomenon that took place last night. Well a town in Pennsylvania had pink snow. An area on Revere Drive had pink snow covering parts of the roofs of seven homes as well as on the ground and trees. Police came out to investigate and even called the FAA to see if any planes had discharged anything overhead, no luck there. There was no odd smell or texture to the snow either. Finally a neighbor came out and said that her son had just found an explanation of the situation on line. It is refered to as watermelon snow and is caused by an algae. Chlamydomonas nivalis is usually dormant in the winter but occasionally will wake up. Red is the algae's secondary pigment which gives the snow its pink color. Blue moon and pink snow- Happy Pastel New Year!
http://www.phillyburbs.com/news/news_details/article/28/2010/january/01/dec-31-2009-day-of-the-pink-snow.html

The picture is from clarku.edu