Northern lights spotted across Georgia, as far south as the coast
Forecasters said the Northern lights sparked by solar storms might be visible in Tennessee or North Carolina, but there were sightings across Georgia Friday night, as far south as Tybee Island.
The purple, red and green displays from the aurora borealis are the result of an unusually strong solar storm, according to The Associated Press. The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration issued a rare severe geomagnetic storm warning when a solar outburst reached Earth on Friday afternoon, hours sooner than anticipated. The effects were due to last through the weekend and possibly into next week.
SUNDAY: The aurora borealis will be visible in some states beginning about 10 p.m. See the current forecast for Sunday night from the Space Weather Prediction Center. As of Sunday afternoon, Georgia was not included in the viewing area. In addition, cloudy skies are forecast for metro Atlanta.
“That’s really the gift from space weather — the aurora,” Rob Steenburgh, a scientist with NOAA’s Space Weather Prediction Center, told AP. He and his colleagues said the best aurora views may come from phone cameras, which are better at capturing light than the naked eye.
This is something that is rarely seen in Georgia.
Here are more sightings of the night-sky show shared on social media:
About the Author
Brian O'Shea is a senior digital producer for The Atlanta Journal-Constitution. He works with the newsroom to identify topics of interest to Atlanta readers and also works with voter guides and election results. He is a graduate of the University of Georgia and The Ohio State University Kiplinger Program in Public Affairs Journalism.
