I just had the daylights startled out of me.
It’s the dark hour before dawn, and being the night owl I am, I’ve put in several hours of work at the computer.
Needing to take a break, I grabbed my jacket and headed outside.
I enjoy the darkness, especially before dawn. A lone cricket was making a bit of noise, there was a small wind, and something caught my peripheral vision.
At first I thought it was heat lightening, but it wasn’t. I blinked to make sure it wasn’t my eyes adjusting.
It was the northern lights, brillant bands of angry white: fast, furtive, weaving, bobbing, band after band, there and gone. Like smoke.
Normally the northern lights don’t startle me, so I went to an area I could scan the entire sky in case I was mistaken and a storm might be in the offing. My nose wasn’t telling me a storm was brewing.
It was the northern lights and they didn’t quite seem normal.
Not that watching them is normal, or attributing emotion to them is normal; but rather than get the thrill I always do, I got a bit of a chill. They seemed angry and urgent and agitated.
Odd.
Published 3 years, 2 months ago
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I’m jealous. My mother (in her late 60s) has wanted to see the northern lights her whole life and has missed out so far. She even went to Alaska hoping to see them.
Maybe one day.
I spent two years in northwestern Ontario, and got to see Northern lights a number of times. Awesome. And I don’t use that word often.
One of the items on my “things to do” list is see the Northern lights. I know jealousy is a horrid sin but…
The other day as I was headed home, i saw the most unusual configuration in the skies, although maybe not as much fun as the Northern Lights:
a crescent moon.
and three stars, in an exact triangle, with the moon in the center.
during my entire commute, i glanced up at it a few times, just to make sure that I wasn’t seeing just airplanes moving through the airspace. i did see planes move, but I also saw the configuration again after the planes were gone, and it didn’t change.
i echo:
odd.
Bene
FYI very active solar storm!! Small wonder the aurora appeared angry! I have this alert link from “Space weather” for work. It has been very active for at least the last week.
Space Weather Message Code: ALTK09
Serial Number: 5
Issue Time: 2005 Sep 11 0646 UTC
ALERT: Geomagnetic K-index of 9
Threshold Reached: 2005 Sep 11 0645 UTC
Synoptic Period: 0600-0900 UTC
Station: Boulder
Active Warning: Yes
NOAA Scale: G5 - Extreme
NOAA Space Weather Scale descriptions can be found at http://www.sec.noaa.gov/NOAAscales
Thank you for using the SEC Product Subscription Service. If you would like to remove a product subscription or update the personal information in your account, go to: https://pss.sec.noaa.gov. For problems, contact: mailto:secproducts@noaa.gov.
I hadn’t thought to check until today when I heard others talking.
Threw communications off, should have noticed.
Thanks!