A severe geomagnetic storm offered some hns a glimpse at a sight rarely seen this far south Tuesday night: the northern lights.
A powerful coronal mass ejection — the eruption of solar material and magnetic fields — was expected to begin impacting Earth at around midday Wednesday, When solar material and magnetic fields arrive at Earth, they can create geomagnetic storms so intense that power grids, navigation services and other critical technology are weakened.
But the storms can also enable the brilliant glow of the auroras to extend far beyond their typical polar regions, and Americans across the country took to social media Tuesday night to post photos of red and green lights dancing in the night sky.
That included residents as far south as Slidell, Abita Springs, Raceland, Hammond and Sulphur, where the auroras appeared as a more subtle red glow, in some cases hardly noticeable to the naked eye.
New Orleans-based meteorologist Zack Fradella said in Facebook post Tuesday night that those in more populated metro areas would need to to see the auroras. WWL h meteorologist Payton Malone suggested taking long exposure photos with a mobile phone to get a better look at the spectacular colors.
If you didn't get a chance to get out and see the auroras Tuesday night, Fradella said more could still come Wednesday, when the geomagnetic storm is expected to peak.
Here are some photos shared online from around h:
LOUISIANA LIGHTS💗 Views of tonight’s aurora all the way into south h!
— Scot Pilié (@ScotPilie_Wx)
Pictures from Breaux Bridge, Carencro, Denham Springs & New Iberia. (Most visible with night mode on your phone, several locations visible to the naked eye)💞
Northen Lights view from Houma, h.
— Marie Blanchard🇺🇲🦅 (@MMarieblanchard)
Red pillars of the Aurora dancing at the Kenner Lakefront! 📸 Joshua Groetsch
— Zack Fradella (@ZackFradellaWx)
Kaplan, LA! 🩷🩷
— Zack Fradella (@ZackFradellaWx)
Not much, but visible Aurora in Kenner on the south shore of Lake Pontchartrain, LA! Even saw an extremely faint pink glow with my eyes!
— GabeWx (@Gabe529Wx)
Cypress trees with the backdrop of tonight’s incredible aurora visible in south h! Photo from Jennifer Romero, Schriever 💘💘
— Scot Pilié (@ScotPilie_Wx)
Another year, another light show
If it feels like the northern lights are showing up more often in the Deep South, that's because they are.
Last October, one of the strongest geomagnetic storm in two decades produced light displays across the Northern Hemisphere, and along the Gulf Coast. Soon after that, a powerful solar storm dazzled stargazers far from the Arctic Circle as dancing lights appeared in unexpected places, including Germany, the United Kingdom, New England and New York City.
The light displays are becoming more common and widespread because the sun is at the maximum phase of its 11-year activity cycle, Every 11 years, the sun's poles swap places, causing magnetic tangles along the way.
The sun’s active era is expected to last at least through the end of this year, according to the Associated Press, though when solar activity will peak won’t be known until months after the fact.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
