‘It was a massive event—possibly the most vibrant I’ve seen in the district,’ a reader said
A reader submitted these incredible photos of the aurora borealis light show that happened today between 2 and 4 a.m.
“It was a massive event—possibly the most vibrant I’ve seen in the district—with deep purples and greens visible even to the naked eye,” said Jason Alexander Cleary via email, who snapped photos in Bruce Mines.
The pictures were taken at around 3 a.m., he said.
According to the Weather Network, tonight we may get an encore performance of the Northern Lights.
“The past two days have seen some exceptional space weather activity,” said Scott Sutherland, a meteorologist and writer, in this Weather Network story.
“First, an X-class flare exploded from sunspot region 4341 Sunday afternoon, dumping intense energy and light into space over a seven-hour period.
“Then, solar protons accelerated to fantastic speeds by the flare’s energy bombarded Earth, producing a solar radiation storm that ramped up to severe levels over the next 24 hours. Following that, on hour 25 since the flare, the immense eruption that followed the flare — a ‘halo’ CME — impacted on Earth’s geomagnetic field, immediately sparking a severe geomagnetic storm.”
The geomagnetic storm conditions are currently forecast to ramp back down to substorm levels later today.
If we have clear skies, parts of northern Europe and the east coast of North America could still catch some aurora activity after sunset.
“Additionally, both the NOAA and NRCan forecasters give a chance of some Northern Lights being on display overnight into Wednesday,” the Weather Network story says.
