Some Oklahomans saw the northern lights Thursday night. A strong geomagnetic storm made the aurora visible over the southern United States.
Dozens of social media users marked the occasion, including Oklahoma's Mesonet. The network of environmental monitoring stations posted pictures on social media from its May Ranch site in Woods County, near the Kansas border.
To avoid light pollution, Tulsan and freelance videographer Mike Creef drove to Grand Lake.
“And right when I pulled up, the sky was red. I rushed out of the car. I went to set up down by the water. By the time I set my camera up, snapped a couple of photos, it was almost gone.”
The glow Creef photographed was caused by a solar disturbance that started when the sun shot out plasma. The plasma struck Earth’s atmosphere Thursday morning and created a geomagnetic storm. These storms can affect satellites, but also produce the northern lights.
Scientists say we are in a busy solar storm period and there will be heightened activity into 2025.
