AARO's verdict on the 2022 Colorado Springs UAP: "angular, non-symmetrical potato," probably sunlight on snow
The Intelligence Community Agency analysis of the 2022 Colorado Springs incident — released as ICA-UAP-D001 — characterises the witnessed object as "an angular, non-symmetrical potato" and resolves it, with low confidence, as sunlight backscattering off snow on the mountains, illuminating the underside of low-altitude clouds. This is one of the very few cases in any of the three PURSUE releases where AARO offers an actual explanation.
Most of the 294 PURSUE records are flagged "unresolved." When AARO does conclude something, it's worth reading exactly how they hedge — and "angular, non-symmetrical potato" is, frankly, an unforgettable phrase. The Colorado Springs cluster also shows AARO's idea of a *complete* case file: a witness's FBI form (FD-1057), an analyst's digital rendering of what the witness described, and a separate IC partner's atmospheric analysis. Three documents about one ten-second incident.
By the numbers
Side by side
Evidence
The cluster as released:
- FBI-UAP-D001 — FD-302 form (the FBI's standard witness-interview record). 2022, Colorado Springs.
- FBI-UAP-D002 — FD-1057 (FBI investigative-activity form), same 2022 Colorado Springs report. Contains the witness's first-hand narrative.
- FBI-UAP-D003 — Digital Rendering: an artistic interpretation of the 2022 incident, derived from the witness's narrative description in D002.
- ICA-UAP-D001 — the IC partner's actual analytical assessment.
The live carousel caption for ICA-UAP-D001 (visible only when you hover the slideshow image) reads:
> *"An AARO IC partner assessed, with low confidence, that the reported phenomenon, which observers characterized as resembling an 'angular, non-symmetrical potato,' was attributable to sunlight backscattering, where sunlight reflecting from mountain snow cover illuminated the underside of low-altitude clouds."*
Three observations:
1. The phrase isn't an analyst's joke. "Angular, non-symmetrical potato" is the *witness's* description, repeated back in the IC report. That implies the FD-1057 narrative literally contains the word "potato." (FBI-UAP-D002 is the original; the rendering in D003 is the analyst's attempt to draw what they meant.)
2. "Low confidence." Even the favorable atmospheric explanation is hedged. AARO IC partners use low / medium / high confidence on conclusions. "Low" here means they're saying *this would explain it if you accept several assumptions about angle, cloud altitude, and snow extent.* Not "this is the answer."
3. The "IC partner" framing. The document is labelled ICA-UAP-D001 — Intelligence Community Agency — which is AARO's way of saying *one of the IC agencies, not AARO itself.* They don't say which agency. So even the explanation is one step removed from AARO's own analysis.
Cross-link. The Western United States Event cluster (release 3's other multi-doc incident — see [western-us-event-cluster](/findings/western-us-event-cluster)) follows the same template: narratives + renderings + analysis, but with no resolution at all. Colorado Springs is the only Tier-1 release-3 incident with an explanation attached.