There Were Awesome Northern Lights Last Night…Guess Who Missed Them?

Northern Lights over Nuuk, Greenland (photo by John Kjær)

So, word to the wise: when you receive word (via the handy Northern Lights forecast or other trusty news-sources) that there are going to be epically cool Northern Lights in the evening, do not assume that this is going to be an all-night show. Even if you’re feeling kinda sickly, and just want to curl up and finish your Noel Coward movie and eat the cookies you made (hypothetically, of course), get off your bum and get outside prior to midnight. Because by midnight, there will be nothing to see and the only proof you’ll have of the apparently brilliant spectacle caused by “clear and cold night, combined with the “coronal mass ejection” – a massive burst of solar wind” will be all of the photos that people posted on Facebook from about an hour or so earlier.

Teaching moment: taught. The next forecast for level 3 (“grade 3 (moderate) can be dazzling” says the forecast page) is this coming Thursday. Count on us wandering around the neighborhood much earlier this time.

 

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