British Columbians were treated to light shows Wednesday and Thursday nights, as a geomagnetic storm created conditions for a rare appearance of the northern lights.
The northern lights, or aurora borealis, is a visual effect in the Northern Hemisphere’s night sky caused by the collision of charged particles in space with gases in Earth’s upper atmosphere. Aurora borealis (or aurora australis in the southern hemisphere) are typically better viewed closer to the poles, due to the effects of Earth’s magnetic fields.
Recent solar activity, however, has created the right conditions for the phenomenon to be viewed farther south, and the U.S. National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) has issued a geomagnetic storm watch for March 23 to March 25.
Global News meteorologist Ross Hull explained that a cooler, less dense region of the sun known as a “coronal hole” developed this week, allowing solar winds to escape more easily toward Earth.
“As they move towards Earth, the solar winds interact with our geomagnetic field (which protects our planet from such events) and these geomagnetic events have different intensity levels,” Hull said.
Space Weather Canada has projected visible sub-auroral activity across British Columbia on Friday, meaning if the weather co-operates, locals could get a second view.
Shutterbugs across B.C. were busy this week night capturing stunning images of the phenomenon.
Here are a few of our favourite snaps from across British Columbia
Do you have a photo of the northern lights, a weather phenomenon or the beauty of your part of British Columbia? You can submit it to Global BC at WeatherWindow@globaltv.com.
— with files from Global’s Ryan Rocca