Seattle isn’t as much of a hot spot for the northern lights as, say, Alaska or Sweden – but this weekend, the Emerald City had its chance to bask in a green auroral glow. And fortunately, photographers and videographers were on the scene to take advantage.
Skywatchers benefited from a strong geomagnetic storm that swept past Earth’s magnetic field starting on the night of May 7. The G3-class “Mother’s Day Storms” sparked northern lights that could be seen as far south as Arkansas, as well as southern lights that lit up research bases in Antarctica. Seattleites benefited from clear skies just as the storm was hitting its peak.
“As I live and breathe, I never thought I’d see the aurora borealis dancing above the Emerald City with my naked eye like I did tonight,” photographer Tim Durkan wrote in a Facebook posting early May 8. “I’m sitting here in my Subaru at 02:30 and still giddy with delight – it’s moments like these I live for!”
