Aurora awe follows storms in Tallahassee
Nature truly revealed its best and worst side on Friday.
Tallahasseeans awoke to panic as tornado warnings blared. Scenes of widespread destruction dominated social media news feeds throughout the day.
As night fell, horror gave way to awe as resident after resident shared their photos of the northern lights above Florida’s capital city in the deep South.
Facebook was a stream of pink and purple with streaks in the night sky as residents went outside – often from powerless homes – to capture a clear view of a rare phenomena that is never seen in Tallahassee.
As reported by USA TODAY, the northern lights provided a rare sight for residents across the U.S. and around the world Friday night, with a powerful solar storm fueling a spectacle seen as far south as the Florida Keys.
Strong solar flares the sun has been emitting since Wednesday morning were responsible for the northern lights being visible across a wide swath of North America and Europe.
Seven coronal mass ejections began entering the Earth’s outer atmosphere on Friday, said the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. The agency issued a rare Severe (G4) Geomagnetic Storm Watch this week for the first time in 19 years, but announced Friday evening that extreme (G5) conditions reached Earth at 6:54 p.m. Eastern time. The last extreme event occurred with the “Halloween storms” in October 2003.
Because the sun is at the height of its 11-year-cycle, conditions were optimal for the auroras to put on a light show that electrified sky watchers, and appeared to far more Americans than usual.
“The same day of Tallahassee’s possibly worst weather days ends with the Aurora Borealis Northern Lights making an appearance,” one commenter wrote. “Truly a remarkable day.”
JJ Hensley of USA TODAY contributed to this story.