See rare sight as solar storm brings northern lights to Southern California – Orange County Register

Viewing the Northern Lights is an unmissable life experience, a magical spectacle that people travel to far and remote parts of the world to catch a glimpse of – and even then, everything has to line up perfectly.

Some lucky people who got up early in the morning in Southern California around 2 a.m. were able to witness the rare visual of Aurora Borealis turning the sky bright pink for just a few hours, a green glow dancing just above from the horizon.

“This is absolutely unprecedented to see this in Southern California,” photographer Mark Girardeau of Orange County Outdoors wrote in a post shared around 1 a.m. near Mountain High from a spot overlooking the southern California region. California, the lights twinkling under the sky. “It is visible as far away as San Diego and Mexico. It would be visible from Orange County if it weren’t for the clouds.

Working on a hunch that the Northern Lights would appear in Southern California, Girardeau was joined by a handful of other dedicated photographers, including Huntington Beach photographer Royce Hutain and Torrance photographer Patrick Coyne, who stayed awake until the early hours and ventured to Wrightwood’s high altitude with their camera gear ready to capture the capture of their lives.

The Space Weather Prediction Center, based in Boulder, Colorado, launched a geomagnetic storm watch for May 11 across the United States and beyond, and early morning reports on social media were shared Across the country.

The coronal mass ejection is an eruption of solar material, according to the prediction center.

“When they arrive on Earth, a geomagnetic storm may result,” it reads. “Watches of this level are very rare. »

The CMEs are expected to merge and arrive at Earth by late May 10 or early May 11, the center predicted, noting that auroras could become visible over much of the northern half of the country, and perhaps as far south as Alabama to the north. California.

Last year, a strong solar storm lit up the skies over Northern California, with reports coming from Mammoth Mountain, Shasta Lake and beyond. But it’s unclear whether the lights have ever been visible in Southern California.

Hutain chose the location to try to document this rare sight, with photographers knowing they would have to get away from light pollution. But they said they couldn’t believe what they saw in the sky.

“I was expecting at best to vaguely see something on the horizon and when I saw half the sky light up, I couldn’t believe my eyes,” Hutain said. “I never thought I would see him this bright in Southern California.”

According to news reports, the University of Alaska detailed an extreme aurora event in 1958 that showed northern lights visible as far away as Mexico City. This latest event is the first time a storm watch has been issued by NOAA for a G4 since January 2005, according to reports.

Photographers are no strangers to sleepless nights documenting rare phenomena, devoting hundreds of hours searching for the bioluminance that makes the ocean glow in recent years and other phenomena like “firefall” in Yosemite .

It had been reported all over the news that there was going to be a big storm that could potentially show the Northern Lights locally, “but I don’t think any of us realized how much we would see in Southern California,” Coyne said.

Hutain was also able to use the solar filter he purchased for the recent eclipse to view and capture the burst on the sun’s surface.

“The experience was absolutely spectacular,” Coyne said. “I’ve always wanted to see the Northern Lights and would like to one day plan a trip around them, but I’ve never dreamed of seeing the Northern Lights in Southern California. This has been something on my bucket list for a long time and last night was like a dream come true. I was able to spend time with good friends and see Mother Nature at her best. We all liked to joke and called it bioluminescence in the sky.