Gallery: Northern Lights light up the sky

On Monday, the Storm Track Weather Team said the Northern Lights would be visible for most of the region, and from the response from viewers – the Aurora Borealis did not disappoint. NOAA’s Space Weather Prediction Center had said we would have a minor-to-moderate geomagnetic storm on Monday.

If you remember, Brandon Weatherz did a Weatherz School on the Northern Lights in August, 2022. The two main factors in viewing the aurora are geomagnetic activity and your location. The Planetary K-index (Kp-index) rates geomagnetic activity on a scale of zero to nine. A large swath of Canada can view the aurora on days with low geomagnetic activity. The Northland needs a Kp-index of 5 for a shot at the northern lights, and that requires a minor geomagnetic storm.

On Monday, the minor geomagnetic storm was a G1 with a planetary k (Kp) index of 5.

Brandon Weatherz says green auroras are the most common, but the full spectrum ranges from pink auroras within 100 kilometers of the surface to red auroras more than 200 kilometers above the surface. We saw a broad spectum of colors from viewers across Minnesota, Wisconsin and the UP of Michigan.

Here are some of the pictures we received from our viewers. You can email weather@wdio.com if you have pictures of the Northern Lights from Monday.

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