My brother noticed something very odd last night: it was amazingly light out when he stepped outside for a smoke even though it was between 3 AM and 3:30 AM EDST and we are near Toronto Ontario Canada, not in the Far North. He is outside at that time most nights and is no stranger to being up very very early at all times of the year. He has always lived here and is 63 years old, not an inexperienced child. He said the amount of light in the sky was equivalent to the amount of light you'd see in the mid-afternoon of an overcast day. He'd never seen anything like it.
Since I have a lifelong love of science fiction, he asked me if I had any idea why this might have been; he thought there might be some natural phenomenon that might explain it. I asked if he had used some kind of intoxicant but he assured me he was completely sober.
I'm at a loss to think of any plausible source for his experience but I'm not a scientist of either the professional or amateur kind so I thought I'd ask here if there is some rare atmospheric condition that might explain it.