Northern Lights

[shootingstar]

Recently at work, via a daily fun intranet poll, there was a question asking employees if anyone saw northern lights.

I was amazed that out of 800+ employees who responded, over 70% had seen aurora bourealis!
Now it's easier to see northern lights on the prairies as one goes further and further north. We don't get them (or if we do, is very rare) within our city area. But I realize several hundred km. north of us, if one is lucky one might see them.

Like seeing a whale or 2 on the pacific coast: it's not guaranteed at all. And for northern lights, there's no typical migration season where the whales hang out in the same area.

Have you seen northern lights?

[Crankin]

Yes, when I was a kid, here in Massachusetts. I can't remember seeing them as an adult.

[Artista]

We saw the northern lights in Denver Colorado about 10 years ago. That's pretty far south but I've heard that they've appeared as far south as Albuquerque New Mexico.

[salsabike]

Yes, at 30,000 feet out the window of an airplane going over Newfoundland, on the way from New York to London, in December 2003. Such an amazing experience! Like watching huge ribbons and curtains blowing around in the sky. We were incredibly lucky to see the Northern Lights that way and I'll never forget it.

[eofelis]

I saw them when I was a kid in New England. Maybe the same ones that Crankin saw.
The first was in the late 1970s when I was in southeastern NH. It looked like a shimmering greenish curtain.
Then again in the mid 1980s in northestern MA. It looked like a yellowish glowing orb.

I have not seen them since.
Last year when there was a chance they might be seen at about the I-70-ish latitude we did drive out west just to the CO/UT line where it is dark, but we did not see them.

[lph]

I travel a fair bit within Norway, mostly due to work, and up North you're almost guaranteed to see them if it's a clear winter's night. But the sighting that made the most impression on me was here in Oslo. I was out skiing alone one evening and wasn't expecting to see anything as it's not that common this far south - and was treated to a fantastic display over the entire sky, complete with a "red crown", one of the rarest. Very beautiful, and awe-inspiring :-)

[Catrin]

I would LOVE to see the Northern lights eventually, have never had the opportunity. It is on my bucket list :)

[Crankin]

Ha, ha Eofelis, in the late 70s/early 80s I was already grown up and living in Arizona.
I saw the Northern Lights in the 60s. They were much more common. I wonder if there's some environmental reason why we don't see them so much now.

[IBrakeforPastry]

I've seen them a few times here in central New York. One night, they were visible at work, so driving home I took a detour to a spot that I knew was flat and open to the north (basically farmland), pulled over and sat on the hood of my car and just watched. I also saw them on Prince Edward Island.

[Trek-chick]

Once while I was living in Burlington, Vermont and another time in Michigan's UP near Houghton (Michigan Tech.)

[withm]

Northern Michigan about 30 years ago. I was walking home from my friend's house late one night and saw them over the water (Lake Huron). When I got home, I noticed lights on at my aunt's house next door and saw her sitting by the window, so I knocked on her door (scared the stuff out of her), and told her to come out and see. I am so glad I did, she died in her sleep a couple weeks later. That was the last time I saw her.

[Norse]

I saw them about 30 years ago driving across Wisconsin one night. I know they occur frequently in the northeastern part of Minnesota, but, as much as we go up to the Arrowhead region, we've always missed out.

[skhill]

I remember watching them out of my dorm window, freshman year of college, in Minnesota. Way cool.

(I also saw a couple of tornados dancing across the plains out of a dorm room window. That was cool too, even if a stupid thing to do).

[salsabike]

Northern Michigan about 30 years ago. I was walking home from my friend's house late one night and saw them over the water (Lake Huron). When I got home, I noticed lights on at my aunt's house next door and saw her sitting by the window, so I knocked on her door (scared the stuff out of her), and told her to come out and see. I am so glad I did, she died in her sleep a couple weeks later. That was the last time I saw her.

withm, that is the loveliest story. Thanks.

[Atlas]

I saw them once in Iowa. One of those rare times when they stretch south. Definitely not the curling ribbons like you see up north, but it was still something. I'd love to see them further north.

[missjean]

About 15 years back, I saw them up in Maine. They were a soft green and not very bright, but still a thrill to see.

[ZenBiker]

I saw them several times during my college years in northern Wisconsin (in Ashland). Would love to see them again. They're rarely visible here in Utah, but it could happen.

[goldfinch]

I have seen them fairly frequently in northern Minnesota. My extended family pays attention to solar storm activity and "forecasts" and if it looks really good we go out late at night to see what we can see. Sun spot activity is cyclical (roughly 11 years) and it is ramping up now. This fall when days get shorter things might be good.

[shootingstar]

I hope to see northern lights, one day..I still am a bit chuffed that over 70% employees who responded to the poll, said they had seen them in their lifetime.

[withm]

http://vimeo.com/65504232

6 minute video of northern lights on the UP (upper peninsula) of Michigan.

I just watched this on my HD Iphone - amazing! Much better screen (even if tiny) than my big 22" monitor at work.