US forecasts severe solar storm starting Thursday

[727Sky]

[FlyersFan]

I have wanted to see the Northern Lights all my life.
Last night I finally got to see them.
10:30 pm Wilmington Delaware.
They weren't much.   Just a red haze in the Northern sky.
They didn't 'dance' or move or anything like most people say they do.
But I can now say that I saw them.

My brother saw them last night in Omaha Nebraska.  
I was on the phone with him while he was watching.
He kept saying 'oh my god' 'oh my god'.  
They were spectacular ... yellow, gold, green, blue, red 
Falling like a water fall.

My sister in law saw them in Northern New Hampshire last night too.
Same thing ... she sent pictures ... yellow, gold, green, blue ,red.
Like a water fall of light in the sky, moving and beautiful.

Pictures from my home town in Connecticut .. red and purple lit up the sky.

PIctures from others here in Wilmington Delaware  ... red lit up the sky.

Spaceweather.com reports that they were seen as far south as Alabama.

[727Sky]

[FlyingClayDisk]

First time I saw the Northern Lights it freaked me out, because I didn't know what it was.  Then, when I figured out what it was...it still freaked me out, because it wasn't what I expected at all! 

I was fishing at the time on the Kenai River in Alaska.  We'd been fishing for a long time and I'd kind of lost track of time.  I kept getting this feeling like I was hungry, but I ignored it because I was super into the fishing.  At one point I looked down at my watch, and much to my shock it was 1:30am (last time I'd eaten was breakfast the day before).  It had just started to get dark, and I noticed as I was looking at my watch that the light was sort of flickering kind of.  My first thought was I was getting dizzy from not having eaten.  Then I looked up.  Above me were these clouds, or what I thought were clouds, but they looked somehow electric, like they glowed sort of.  I just thought it was my eyes playing tricks on me, but as I stood there and watched them they started moving all over the place.  They were changing positions and shape pretty rapidly.  I felt like I'd taken some kind of hallucinogenic or something.  It took my mind a few seconds to realize and digest where I was, and what the phenomenon was that I was seeing.

After the initial shock of seeing the blue-green and orange hues writhing around in the sky and realizing it was the Northern Lights (and not clouds).   I was like..."WHOA!!  How cool is THAT??"  Then this wave of fear came over me; I don't know how to describe it.  It was almost as if I was thinking the sky was going to fall or something.  I was just there all alone in the twilight on this Alaskan river, and I wondered if I'd be okay.  Nobody had ever told me how you were supposed to react when you saw the Northern Lights (so I didn't know.  Where you supposed to take cover, or what?) 

I know this all sounds silly, but before that the only glimpse I'd ever had of the Northern Lights was in pictures.  I didn't realize they moved, and especially didn't realize they moved that fast!  Pictures don't move, and these things were jumping all over the place.  I stood there and stared at them in awe for a long while.  In fact, I stood there and stared so long that after a while my BIL had to snap me out of my trance.  "HEY!!  WAKE UP!!  It's getting dark, we should probably go get something to eat."  Right at that moment I hooked a giant Dolly Varden and at the same time a bear showed up on the far bank a ways upriver.  My mind immediately switched at that point to reeling in my fish and not becoming breakfast for a hungry bear.  I didn't remember the light show until I got back to the truck, and by that time the lights had tapered way off.

Saw the Northern Lights many, many, times in my travels in Alaska for years after that, but I'll never forget the very first time I saw them.  That was quite an experience!

[Tecate]

I have been trying to upload the pictures that my daughter took last night. Really fantastic from northern Alberta, no luck so far.

The upload says that it allows jpg’s but won’t allow these.

They have been just incredible, but I grew up here watching them and I have seen some amazing different types and colours!!

I’ll keep trying.


Tecate

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[img]256cf55b-0bc1-4b3f-8e3b-6cef0442dbed[/img]

Let’s see if this works


Tecate

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Ok here goes


Hope this works!!

Tecate

[UltraBudgie]

Oh wow those are pretty tecate! tell your daughter nice job!

Here's one that was taken in west virginia on the 10th:


more here

but personally-taken pics are the best!

[Maxmars]

You all are in on the conspiracy!

I say the Northern Lights are a myth!  Every single time I have been alerted to them it's been on a cloudy night.  I see nothing!

(Sorry, I'm just jealous.  )

[putnam6]

Yeah, totally blew my right shoulder out.  Tore (3) of the (4) tendons completely off and blew up my rotator cuff (4th tendon was hanging by a thread).  It wasn't a cast, it was having the whole upper right side of my body immobilized for about 2 months and a total of about 6-8 month recovery.  Had to sleep in a chair with my shoulder iced down for the first 2 months because I couldn't lie down.  I wouldn't wish that shit on my worst enemy (well...yeah, maybe I would!  LOL!).  Anyway, that sucked royale!  Had a hip replaced since then and that was a cake-walk compared to the shoulder!  Trust me, don't ever screw up your shoulder...that is NO "fun" at ALL!  (Plus trying to tend to cattle while dealing with that was all sorts of "fun" (not!)).

Yeah, inlaws lost their house on the Chesapeake to a hurricane a long while back.  Your memory must not be that bad because I can't even remember what year that was...long time ago though (pushing 20 years now I think).  Their old place was just a shit shack.  What they rebuilt back is pretty nice (but now 12 feet above grade).  FIL has passed now, but they've been hit by (2) other hurricanes since then.  No damage though because they make everyone build their houses 12-15 feet above grade on these giant concrete foundations.

Ha, my memory of your stuff is based on your avatar of Roland The Gunslinger of The Dark Tower Stephen King Universe fame. 

It always stuck with me and you seem to live an interesting as-hell life and have wide knowledge and experience in an area I've only read about

Shoulder pain is a bitch and a half, I had my right shoulder immobilized for 3 months after I wrecked my dirt bike when I was thirteen, then worked for years lifting and moving inventory and now it's arthritic as hell. I use ice and DMSO a lot nowadays

Nothing like your situation but it's semi-relatable 

I know the Southeast fairly well, but it ain't like the West. One of my daughters has traveled a lot through the West and PNW and she knows how much I love the open spaces. Her pictures videos and descriptions make me want to get and RV and spend time driving out west and seeing the wild frontier

[agit8dchop]

I know it's coming to the peak of an 11yr cycle, but I don't ever remember a period where there was such significant auroras and lights

I'm not doom porning, just curious why this isn't causing a concern for anyone