‘Historic’ northern lights dance across the skies of Minnesota and much of the country

People across the globe took to social media Saturday to share images of a brilliant aurora borealis display that basked the night sky in rolling waves of light.

Minnesotans, from Pine County to Mille Lacs and beyond, shared images of the northern lights shining above. On X (formerly known as Twitter), one said the display was “the most amazing northern lights that have hit Minnesota in my lifetime;” another reported finally seeing the lights after five failed trips across the state.

Some marveled at how the display unified people.

“What was just as cool ... was how many people were outside at parks & open spaces at 10, 11 pm. They had ditched their streaming and TV and were all just looking up in the sky,” resident Paul Johnson said on X.

The California Highway Patrol posted pictures of red and pink lights blanketing the night sky. Some people spotted the lights as far south as Mississippi, and similar displays were reported across the United Kingdom and Europe.

While Saturday morning’s display was vibrant, forecasters predict the lights will recede as the geomagnetic storm between the sun and the earth calms. By Saturday night, the aurora was expected to shine as far as northern Kentucky and California, and then pull back towards northern Indiana and Illinois by Sunday night.

The northern lights are dancing ribbons of light that sometimes shine through dark skies. That light can shine green and purple, fading and reappearing overhead for hours.

According to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, the light displays appear as the sun hurls particles into the earth. Those particles collide with atoms in earth’s magnetic field, causing the atoms to shine in ribbons of light near the world’s magnetic poles.

Severe geomagnetic storms can wreak havoc, disrupting earth’s power grid, communications, navigation, and radio and satellite use. Saturday’s display was not severe, but it was different than previous years. NOAA space weather forecasters warned that geomagnetic storms would begin Friday and end Sunday, and other forecasters said this weekend’s display could be the strongest solar storm in decades.

NOAA’s Space Weather Prediction Center predicted geomagnetic storms would occur more often when the sun nears the peak of its 11-year solar cycle. They expected that would occur between 2024 and 2025.

“This is an unusual and potentially historic event,” said Clinton Wallace, director for NOAA’s Space Weather Prediction Center, in a notification about this weekend’s storm.

To see the northern lights, NOAA suggests that people check how active the geomagnetic field is; aurora lights shine brighter as geomagnetic fields grow active. They also suggest finding a dark place that is far from city lights.

And timing is crucial: NOAA says the best light displays are between 10 p.m. and 2 a.m. That’s when the geomagnetic levels increase, and when the colorful lights will dance across northern and southern skies.

Star Tribune staff writer Alex Chhith contributed to this report.