Huge Northern Lights Display Delights Much Of Nation; Vermont Gets Glimpses Between The Clouds

Photo of Northern Lights peeking
through the clouds over 
Shelburne, Vermont posted to
Facebook by Amanda Delude

A big display of northern lights lit up the skies across much of the U.S. last night as a big geomagnetic storm targeted Earth. 

Tonight might bring another big display. 

The northern lights were seen as far south as Florida, where residents must have felt like they were transported to the Arctic, where northern lights are very common. 

Florida was also experiencing record cold temperatures early this week, too. 

Social media was filled with color images of the sky over locations from Minnesota to Colorado to Texas to Alabama. 

Here in Vermont, our usual overcast skies prevented much of a northern lights view in many areas  But the aurora was so spectacular you could sort of see it through the clouds. The overcast north of my St. Albans, house definitely had a green cast. 

Near Lake Champlain and in parts of southern Vermont, there were breaks in the clouds that offered glimpses of the show.  Facebook had some great photos out of Weathersfield and Royalton, for example. 

Photographer Adam Silverman, probably the most enthusiastic and best northern lights photographer in Vermont, captured some great images from Malletts Bay, along Lake Champlain in Colchester. 

There were only a few breaks in the clouds, but that was enough. He captured some spectacular shots, like the one he posted on Facebook, that you can see in this link. 

Silverman, ever the fan of nature and skies, wrote: "The sky absolutely burned and glowed with amazing aurora colors, clearly visible to the naked eye. Even the clouds let through enough light to take on surreal hues as they zipped overhead in the stiff, cold breeze."

If you missed any of it last night, people across the northern hemisphere, even at points well south, have another shot at a spectacular show tonight. 

Vermont State Police posted this photo of the northern
lights to Facebook from their Westminster, Vermont barracks. 

 Reports NBC:

"...forecasters at the Space Weather Prediction Center have said the geomagnetic storm could intensity as the 'final and most energetic CME' meaning coronal mass ejection, is yet to arrive and could reach Earth on Wednesday afternoon.

A CME is an eruption of massive clouds of protons, electrons, and magnetic fields from the Sun's outer atmosphere at very high speeds."

Here in Vermont, unfortunately, it's another very cloudy forecast for tonight. The National Weather Service in Burlington predicts about a 96 percent cloud cover for most of the night, which is about as overcast as you can get. The cloud cover declines to 88 percent after midnight, which is still pretty bleak.

Unlike last night, when we had a break in the snowfall, it will very likely be snowing at least lightly overnight across most of northern Vermont.  

Note that the valleys of southern Vermont might have a few more breaks in the clouds than in the north.