Really Weird.....

[NOVIZWHIZ]

Strange thing happened last night / this morning. Somewhere around midnight.....1AM, about a dozen or so of us were assisting with a boat in distress situation in St. Helena Sound just South of Charleston on the SC coast (we're a volunteer water search and rescue org.). Commercial tow boat was running low on fuel and had a disabled boat in tow. We were basically going to take him fuel, escort back and stand by as needed. About 5 or 6 of us were at the landing with back-up and had two boats out with the problem when I heard one of the boats mention how pretty the "Northern Lights" looked...we're like "WHAA-AAT?" I thought the guy was inhaling carbon monoxide or something - we walked out so we could look back toward the North and DA-YUM! Beautiful cascade of light, very high up, changing from greenish blue to dark violet then finally to red and then dissapating. Literally looked like,a waterfall of light, or a curtain with vertical folds and creases, intense light in some places, very little in others... We watched it for about 20 minutes until it was gone, the last color we could see was a deep red....has anybody ever heard of these lights this far South?

 

[Kayla]

Maybe they were just really apparent last evening, because we could see them really clearly here too, and it was amazing!! Of course, were a little "higher" up then where you're at.. but its still not something that you see every day!!

 

[freefall2]

I've heard of people seeing them in the southern states, I guess it takes perfect atmospheric conditions. It sounds like you were really lucky!

I got this from a USA Today article:
"Auroras are caused by the interaction of particles from the sun with the Earth's geomagnetic field and that they occur where these particles are channeled by the Earth's geomagnetic field.
The geomagnetic field channels particles to the geomagnetic poles, which are the southern and northern ends of the field. The north geomagnetic pole is now over northeastern Greenland.
You can see where the oval is by going to a National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration Web page with a near real-time map http://sec.noaa.gov/pmap/pmapN.html locating the northern auroral oval.
The size of the oval changes from night to night, depending on solar activity. When the sun is very active, the oval expands to the south over the contiguous 48 states.
You can think of it this way: Ordinary auroras are seen over Alaska, stronger than ordinary solar activity creates auroras that are seen over the northern parts of the contiguous 48 states, and the very strongest solar activity can create auroras that are seen even as far south as the tropics.
Since auroras occur from around 50 to 200 miles above the Earth, even high clouds could block your view. As with just about anything going on in the night sky, you are much more likely to see an aurora if you are in a place that's really dark — say dark enough to see the Milky Way. Finally, a full or nearly full moon could make an aurora hard to see."

 

[baltimoron]

hmmm... I didn't see them, but then again I live in the CENTER of a city... lots of lights, but I was doing my homework on the roof.... something about the night and the cold.... its fun.

 

[cobaltbabe]

My children and I were home from Toronto and saw them too. Everyone on the highway was slowing down and checking out the skies. Mother nature does put on a mean light show when she wants too. First a red moon and then the northern lights. Just stunning. Makes me wonder what is next.

 

[baltimoron]

Apocalypse!!! Ahhh!!

 

[MtnDiver]

According to the Space Weather page, it could happen again tonight!

Today's Space Weather

Most likely will be overcast here in CO, bummer!