If you weren’t outside in the cold last night you missed a great opportunity to see the northern lights. The Northern Lights, or Aurora Borealis, are a stunning natural light display. It’s a very rare occurrence for Indiana — especially in southern Indiana: one source says only during major geomagnetic storms — “a few times per solar cycle.” Another source says “a few times per decade.”
The view was worth getting out in the chilly air!
Northern Lights form when charged particles from the sun collide with gases in Earth’s atmosphere, creating shimmering waves of color across the night sky. Shades of green, pink, purple, and red dance and swirl, often illuminating the darkness with a magical glow. It remains one of nature’s most breathtaking phenomena!
Viewing the Northern Lights is a bucket-list experience — one my Momma experienced for the first time ever just last night. Of course, I had to send her a photo of her place visible with the beautiful sky as a backdrop.
It was just as pretty in Scipio at my friend, Julie’s place.
My favorite meteorologist, Marc Weinberg, said there was a strong G4 geomagnetic storm going on and we’d have a light display, but if not for Julie, I would’ve forgotten. She sent the first photo and I couldn’t resist going out with my trusty iPhone… and then telling those Pesky neighbors. How could I resist skipping it when her photo was so good?
If you missed the Northern Lights last night — or if you’re in a place in the world where they aren’t visible at all — I hope you someday get to see it yourself. It’s truly a reminder of how small we are in this great big, magical world. 🩷
Now you know: Northern Lights are best seen in places like Norway, Iceland, Canada, and Alaska. Indiana is well south of the usual “auroral oval” where auroras are frequent.