The Northern Lights dazzled the Californian sky Friday evening, even as far as southern Los Angeles County.
The amazing nighttime display of pink and purple lights in the sky was mostly visible in the high desert and along Highway 2 in the Angeles National Forest. Several Internet users posted their photos on social networks.
“I never dreamed of seeing #dawn here, let alone capture it with an iPhone. Breathtaking,” one person wrote on X.
Generally confined to the polar regions, the Northern Lights are appearing this weekend over the continental United States thanks to an unusually intense solar storm. This dazzling phenomenon, also known as the Northern Lights, is caused by supercharged collisions of solar energy with gas in Earth’s atmosphere.
For the first time since January 2005, the United States National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration has published a monitoring severe geomagnetic stormswarning that a concentration of energy from the sun could disrupt the Earth’s electromagnetic field.
A geomagnetic storm occurs when energy from the solar wind is transferred into the electromagnetic field around the Earth. Most of these atomic particles are usually deflected, except for those in the polar zones, which create the aurora borealis.
But unusually strong bursts of energy can cause geomagnetic storms large enough to disrupt communications, and NOAA said there have already been “reports of power grid irregularities” and disruptions to GPS signals . Storms also create colorful nighttime shows in the skies much farther south.
Those who missed last night’s performance may still be able to catch a glimpse: the storm is expected to persist until Sunday. Just look north.
Times writers Corinne Purtill and Jaclyn Cosgrove contributed to this article.
The Northern Lights appear Friday over Highway 2 in the Angeles National Forest.
(Jaclyn Cosgrove/Los Angeles Times)
California Daily Newspapers
