BeauDodson Posted October 25, 2011 Share Posted October 25, 2011 So Jealous, ugh. Are these lights relatively low to the horrizon? Cause I'm dead smack in the mountains, and most observations are coming from flat areas. For this region - they are about 1 1/2 - 2 rulers in length up from the horizon - if you know what I mean.- looking north/northwest Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ian Posted October 25, 2011 Author Share Posted October 25, 2011 I can't see anything--my immediate neighbors are gonzo with super bright lights out here in the middle of nowhere. Ian, you can see them in cities--I've seen them in downtown Minneapolis--but it has to be a really strong storm. yeah, i bet it was visible here if in the right spot earlier... like on the mall (though clouds were still fairly numerous around 930). oh well. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
hypatia Posted October 25, 2011 Share Posted October 25, 2011 Called my parents in NW CT not so long ago... they can't see them. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Thundersnow12 Posted October 25, 2011 Share Posted October 25, 2011 So Jealous of everyone seeing them tonight lol haven't seen them since I was younger up in northern WI. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
nchighcountrywx Posted October 25, 2011 Share Posted October 25, 2011 Blowing Rock NC Stanley County NC Richmond VA Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ian Posted October 25, 2011 Author Share Posted October 25, 2011 k index dropped last update Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ian Posted October 25, 2011 Author Share Posted October 25, 2011 that's pretty cool a crappy webcam caught it Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BeauDodson Posted October 25, 2011 Share Posted October 25, 2011 The color of the aurora depends on the wavelength of the light emitted. This is determined by the specific atmospheric gas and its electrical state, and the energy of the particle that hits the atmospheric gas. The atmosphere consists mainly of nitrogen and oxygen, which emit the characteristic colors of their respective line spectra. Atomic oxygen is responsible for the two main colors of green (wavelength of 557.7 nm) and red (630.0 nm). Nitrogen causes blue and deep red hues. http://www.webexhibi...ofcolor/4D.html Most of the auroral features are greenish-yellow, but sometimes the tall rays will turn red at their tops and along their lower edges. On rare occasions, sunlight will hit the top part of the auroral rays to create a faint blue color. On very rare occasions (once every 10 years or so) the aurora can be a deep blood red color from top to bottom. Pink hues may also be seen in the lower area of the aurora. In addition to producing light, the energetic auroral collisions transmit heat. The heat is dissipated by infrared radiation, or transported away by strong winds in the upper atmosphere. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
earthlight Posted October 25, 2011 Share Posted October 25, 2011 clouds are completely spoiling things here. would've taken a drive to a low lit area. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ian Posted October 25, 2011 Author Share Posted October 25, 2011 i wonder why it was so far south. eek.. let us know. dont people usually say we need a 9 to get to these latitudes? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BeauDodson Posted October 25, 2011 Share Posted October 25, 2011 I wonder why it was so far south. eek.. let us know. don't people usually say we need a 9 to get to these latitudes? I didn't even know it was going on until some farmers called me and someone messaged me on MSN. Normally there is some sort of "heads up" before these events - have seen a few threads on American Weather and the old forum telling everyone to be on the watch. Soooooo - was this a surprise? Or just missed the heads up http://www.swpc.noaa.gov/pmap/index.html Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
eekuasepinniW Posted October 25, 2011 Share Posted October 25, 2011 i wonder why it was so far south. eek.. let us know. dont people usually say we need a 9 to get to these latitudes? That KP graph is a global average. The northern lights don't form in perfect solid circles around the magnetic poles so what you see depends on local substorming. I'm really glad it's raining back home tonight. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ian Posted October 25, 2011 Author Share Posted October 25, 2011 I didn't even know it was going on until some farmers called me and someone messaged me on MSN. Normally there is some sort of "heads up" before these events - have seen a few threads on American Weather and the old forum telling everyone to be on the watch. Soooooo - was this a surprise? Or just missed the heads up http://www.swpc.noaa...pmap/index.html People reporting a glow on the horizon with white aurora here and there for an hour or two before the big spike. Spaceweather.com talks about the hit at 2:00 p.m. -- would guess they had that up earlier. But certainly seems compared to other events lately that produced little of note south of normal areas there was no real news prior. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Thunder Road Posted October 25, 2011 Share Posted October 25, 2011 I can see a faint red milky glow in the north-northwest sky. Nothing compared to Beau's photos (too many lights on campus) but still the first time I can say I've seen the Northern Lights. Any way to predict these geomagnetic storms more than a few hours in advance? It's on my bucket list to go to North Dakota or into Canada and see a really impressive display of them, but I can't get there from PA or IN on 2 hours notice. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
isohume Posted October 25, 2011 Share Posted October 25, 2011 We got tons of calls about it tonight and there have been several reports of a separate fireball incident. Folks are spooked out down here. lol. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ORH_wxman Posted October 25, 2011 Share Posted October 25, 2011 I saw them in the October 2003 episode...but we are screwed here tonight. Woulda gone to a great spot with minimal light pollution to the north otherwise. Great photos Beau! The one I saw in 2003 looked similar except there were some blues and greens after a while and reds faded and then it was gone. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
eekuasepinniW Posted October 25, 2011 Share Posted October 25, 2011 I didn't even know it was going on until some farmers called me and someone messaged me on MSN. Normally there is some sort of "heads up" before these events - have seen a few threads on American Weather and the old forum telling everyone to be on the watch. Soooooo - was this a surprise? Or just missed the heads up Pretty hard for anything to surprise us given the copious amount of realtime monitoring currently available... but you have to gather the data yourself. The media usually picks up only a tiny percentage of events so if you use them as your only source, you'll likely miss a lot. This is especially true for the northern states, where you don't need an apocalyptic flare to get action. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
hm8 Posted October 25, 2011 Share Posted October 25, 2011 No clouds , but can't see bubkis here in ann arbor. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BeauDodson Posted October 25, 2011 Share Posted October 25, 2011 People reporting a glow on the horizon with white aurora here and there for an hour or two before the big spike. Spaceweather.com talks about the hit at 2:00 p.m. -- would guess they had that up earlier. But certainly seems compared to other events lately that produced little of note south of normal areas there was no real news prior. Some people on my Facebook reported the white aurora and glow, as well - interesting. I missed the fireballs - was watching for those, as well - since there have been some reports the last few nights. Would have been nice to see both at the same time! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BeauDodson Posted October 25, 2011 Share Posted October 25, 2011 Some more amazing photos on SpaceWeather Can't imagine what it was like further north http://spaceweather.com/ Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chase Posted October 25, 2011 Share Posted October 25, 2011 Any clue as to whether we'll see any more tonight? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CAD Addict Posted October 25, 2011 Share Posted October 25, 2011 Went up to Rough Ridge (4,800 ft. in elevation) on the Blue Ridge Parkway and saw it. It was my first time seeing it....pretty cool. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AlexD Posted October 25, 2011 Share Posted October 25, 2011 Would they have only been visible in the northern sky? I was viewing the southern sky through a large window for 2 hours after sunset and did not see anything. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PennyForYourThoughts Posted October 25, 2011 Share Posted October 25, 2011 This is a pic from Kentucky. Awesome Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BethesdaWX Posted October 25, 2011 Share Posted October 25, 2011 I saw it here, my first time ever, mostly blood red with some green tongues extending from the curtain base Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
arcc Posted October 25, 2011 Share Posted October 25, 2011 All I could see was a eerie red glow across the northern horizon here in the ridges of east Alabama. Pretty cool to say the least. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
J.Mike Posted October 25, 2011 Share Posted October 25, 2011 Beau - thx for the great pictures. Did anyone lose power last night? Mine flicked off for about 5 seconds around 10PM. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SN_Lover Posted October 25, 2011 Share Posted October 25, 2011 My friend up in Asheville said he saw it. Light Pollution killed any chances in Charlotte. Numerous sightings across North Carolina also. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BeauDodson Posted October 25, 2011 Share Posted October 25, 2011 I did not hear about any power failures. Unsure. TWC did a special report on the subject this morning http://www.weather.com/weather/videos/news-41/top-stories-169/stunning-northern-lights-22295 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
aslkahuna Posted October 25, 2011 Share Posted October 25, 2011 Based upon 3 hour Kp at peak of 7- this was a Cat G3 storm. However, it's obvious that there was strong substorming imbedded. We have seen faint aurbos down here in AZ with K values as low as high 6 for 3 hours. The storm WAS a surprise as SWPC did not call for one and when I checked the activity levels it was only a G1 storm so I went for only as high as G2 on my forecast on my homepage. Part of the reason was that this event was NOT caused by a flare triggered CME but rather a CME from a DSF (disappearing filament or an eruptive prominence) and they are harder to evaluate because they don't always cause the strong radio and X-Ray signatures of an energetic flare. Although we can observe the CMEs without other data it's not possible to evaluate their potential until they hit SOHO out about 1 million miles from us which is when we know how strong the impact is. Since the shock was travelling about 2 milliom mph this meant 30 minutes warning. Also, a 6 hour plus delay between the shock passage (which occurred around 18Z) and storm peak is not common as the first peak usually occurs during the onset phase of the storm and not the main phase. Steve Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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