The Northern Lights dazzled the skies over California on Friday night, even as far south as Los Angeles County.
The stunning nighttime display of pink and purple lights in the sky was visible primarily in the high desert and along Highway 2 in the Angeles National Forest. Several spectators posted their photos on social media.
“I would never have dreamed of seeing #Dawn here, let alone capture it with an iPhone. Impressive,” wrote one person on X.
Usually confined to the polar regions, the northern lights are making an appearance in the continental United States this weekend thanks to an unusually strong solar storm. The dazzling phenomenon, also known as the aurora borealis, is caused by supercharged collisions of solar energy against gas in Earth's atmosphere.
For the first time since January 2005, the US National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration issued a severe geomagnetic storm warningwarning that a concentration of energy from the sun could alter the Earth's electromagnetic field.
A geomagnetic storm occurs when energy from the solar wind is transferred to the electromagnetic field surrounding the Earth. Most of these atomic particles are usually deflected, except those in the polar areas, which create the northern lights.
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 interruptions in GPS signals. The storms also create colorful nighttime spectacles in the sky much further south.
Those who missed last night's performance will still be able to catch a glimpse: the storm is expected to persist into Sunday. Just look north.
The Northern Lights appear Friday over Highway 2 in the Angeles National Forest.
(Jaclyn Cosgrove/Los Angeles Times)
