If you looked up at the sky over Vancouver lately, you might have been treated to one of nature’s most spectacular displays. Over the last week of May and the beginning of June, the Northern Lights, or aurora borealis, put on a breathtaking and exceptionally rare performance for us here on the West Coast.
For several nights, vibrant shades of green and even stunning hues of purple and pink danced across our skies. This wasn't a faint glow on a distant horizon that you had to squint to see. Residents from across the Lower Mainland, from the dark skies of Porteau Cove to the bright cityscapes of Downtown, captured jaw-dropping images.
In a truly rare sight, the aurora was photographed right in the heart of the city, with iconic landmarks like Science World and the Lions Gate Bridge framed by the celestial light show. Social media was flooded with incredible photos, many captured with nothing more than a smartphone, as Vancouverites shared their collective sense of wonder. So, why the sudden light show? This incredible event was thanks to a series of powerful solar storms. The sun, which is currently at a peak in its roughly 11-year activity cycle, unleashed several strong coronal mass ejections (CMEs). These are massive expulsions of plasma and magnetic fields that travel through space. When they reached Earth, they interacted with our planet’s magnetic field, supercharging the particles in our upper atmosphere. The result? The gases in the atmosphere—primarily oxygen and nitrogen—were "excited" and released their energy as light. The strong geomagnetic storms pushed this light show much further south than usual, giving us in Vancouver a front-row seat.
While we can't circle a specific date on the calendar for the next appearance, the sun's current active phase means our chances of seeing the aurora again are higher than they have been in years. So, the next time there's a clear night and you see an alert for a solar storm, be sure to look up. You might just witness the magic for yourself.
