Northern Lights Are Seen in Places Where They Normally Aren’t

An unusually huge swath of the Northern Hemisphere’s sky lit up with a superb present of shade late Sunday and early Monday, bringing vivid purples, greens or yellows as far south as Arizona, central California and southern England, scientists mentioned.

The phenomenon, often known as the aurora borealis or northern lights, happens when particles emitted by the solar collide with particles which can be already trapped round Earth’s magnetic area, and may typically be seen from elements of Iceland, Canada and Alaska.

But on Friday, the solar let off a big burst of power, mentioned Robert Steenburgh, an area scientist with the Space Weather Prediction Center on the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. (These bursts are often known as coronal mass ejections.)

“The sun spit off a big blob of plasma,” Mr. Steenburgh mentioned. The burst of power, which has its personal magnetic area, had been transferring by house and reached Earth’s magnetic area on Sunday, when the 2 collided to create a geomagnetic storm, he mentioned. “It got our magnetosphere pretty revved up.”

When this occurs, the aurora will be seen nearer to the Equator, Mr. Steenburgh mentioned. Such occasions usually are not that unusual, with about 100 occurring each 11 years, he mentioned, including that the storm may also disturb high-frequency radio used at sea and by airways.

For these unaccustomed to seeing the evening sky illuminated by streaks of inexperienced or purple, an aurora borealis — in folks tales, the northern lights have been related to spirits and divine forces — can encourage awe, and even concern.

In 1872, an article in The New York Times described a sky glowing so intensely that “many persons supposed a great fire was raging back of Brooklyn.” In 1941, lots of of onlookers gathered on the boardwalk of Rockaway Beach, N.Y., to view the phenomenon, and in 1929, many readers of The Times known as the paper to report the dazzling sight.

On Sunday, the storm created a spectacular present of sunshine in locations throughout North America — Maine, Wisconsin, Toronto and Wyoming — which can be separated from one another by hundreds of miles.

Forecasters with the National Weather Service workplace in Riverton, Wyo., shared photos of a sky painted with deep purples and vibrant greens.

The northern lights had been additionally “widely seen” throughout the United Kingdom, in accordance with its nationwide climate service, the Met Office. That included southern England, the place streaks of magenta and yellow illuminated the skies above Stonehenge.

And in Australia and elsewhere within the Southern Hemisphere, the place the phenomenon known as aurora australis, the sunshine present from late Sunday into early Monday regarded no much less spectacular.

“No filter,” Daniel Andrews, the premier of the Australian state of Victoria, wrote on Twitter, referring to {a photograph} of vibrant orange lights within the evening sky. “Seriously.”

The geomagnetic storm eased on Monday, Mr. Steenburgh of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration mentioned, noting that this could lower the magnitude of any seen aurora. He added that individuals in Canada, Alaska and in elements of the northern tier states had been more than likely to catch a second glimpse.

In the United Kingdom, the Met Office mentioned that there can be one other probability to see the northern lights on Monday evening, however that weaker geomagnetic storm exercise “may limit viewings to more northern areas of the U.K.”

On Monday evening, Space Weather Canada, a authorities company, mentioned that “stormy geomagnetic activity” was potential within the auroral zone — a band encircling elements of northern Canada — by early Tuesday morning. But it didn’t predict any main storm exercise within the sub-auroral zone, a band that features southern Canada and the United States.

On Canada’s West Coast, the lights appeared on Sunday evening, however as of 10 p.m. Monday they’d but to make a return look, Ryan Voutilainen, a storm chaser in Vancouver whose day job is in animal welfare, mentioned by cellphone.

“That said,” he added, “the night is still young.”

Christine Hauser and Mike Ives contributed reporting.