Strange Strobe/Anti Collision light pattern question
The other night I was flying Jeju Air HKG-ICN. The aircraft was a 738, ex FR (even though the cabin had been fully re-done, it still had Ryanair branded soap in the bathroom!).
Anyway, at cruising height, which I think was around 29,000ft, we entered what I would describe as a foggy area. The crew switched on the seatbelt sign, although the turbulence never got that bad. Anyway, as it was night and misty outside, the strobe light pattern was exaggerated on the clouds surrounding the plane. I noticed that they were not following any pattern at all and seemed to be resembling something similar to a lightening storm. They would flash once, with a gap of 1-2 seconds, then do a random burst of 10 or so flashes in very quick successions, followed by a kind of bright burst. It really did look like lightning flashes, however it obviously wasn't as a pilot would surely not fly right into a storm and also, the plane at this point was flying perfectly smooth, not even the slightest jolt. I would expect a 737 in the middle of a thunder cloud to be a little bumpy, but nothing.
At several points the lights which illuminate the cabin facing side of the engine also came on, as if we were approaching for landing. They seemed to vary between flashing on and off a few times a second to staying on for a few minutes at a time.
As a frequent flyer I have never seen such things happening with the lights. Is it all random? What would cause strobe lights to function in such a way? Why would the cockpit turn on the landing lights at cruise level?