An unidentified flying object was spotted in Barron County about a month ago.

But was it something extra-terrestrial or can a weather tool give us the answer?

Scott Doering, a meteorologist with the National Weather Service says it's possible the UFO could have been a weather balloon.

He says the device can be 30 to 35 feet across.
That's about the length of a school bus.

A Barron man found the weather balloon in a tree in his yard a few days after the incident and is convinced this is the unidentified flying object everyone saw.

9-1-1 Call to the Barron County Dispatcher: "It was not an airplane. It changed directions so fast and then it was getting real low checking out lights over the airport."

The 911 call to the Barron County Sheriff's Department dispatcher paints a picture of a possible UFO sighting.

9-1-1 Call to the Barron County Dispatcher: "There was a purple light on it and then it got real close over my truck and I could see the outside shape of it."

Julie Hauser says she saw the UFO, and says she was terrified.

Julie Hauser says, "I was literally scared to death. I had to pull my fingers off the steering wheel. My kids were hysterical."

But could the UFO be something connected to the weather?
That's what Nate Emmons from Barron thinks.
He found the balloon in a tree in his yard.

Nate Emmons says, "I looked up and saw a box hanging from one of my trees."

And is pretty sure this is the UFO people in Barron County saw.

Nate Emmons says, "You have the balloon. You have the timing. I think it is probably a good opportunity that it probably was most likely the balloon everyone was seeing."

Scott Doering from the National Weather Service says the light people saw coming from the object could have been a glow stick the agency uses with the balloons.

Scott Doering says, "Sometimes we do attach a light stick to it, sometimes at night to track the instruments so we know which direction it's going."

There’s no way to determine if the weather balloon is indeed what people in Barron County saw that night.

Indications are that the weather balloon Emmons found in his tree is from International Falls Minnesota.