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LAKE COUNTY, Calif. — Veterans Day ended with a spectacular solar storm that brought the aurora borealis to areas across the United States — including Lake County — that don’t normally get to see the northern lights.
In Lake County, a camera was needed to fully capture the display, with residents posting pictures of the auroras on social media.
The California Aurora Chasers Facebook page features pictures from around the state capturing the phenomenon.
The most common color was red, which is due to oxygen at altitudes above 150 miles, along with green, between 50 and 150 miles high.
Shawn Dahl of the NOAA Space Weather Prediction Center in Boulder, Colorado, said in a Tuesday night video that a geomagnetic storm had resulted in the auroras.
By that point, Dahl said there already had been two of three anticipated coronal mass ejections, which were stronger than anticipated.
Those two storms, on the geomagnetic storm scale of G1 to G5, were rated at the G4 level, which is ranked as “severe,” while the watches issued had been between G2, or moderate, and G3, which is strong.
A third and potentially stronger coronal mass is expected to occur beginning around midway on Wednesday.
The third storm was traveling significantly faster than the previous two, and Dahl said they think it will “pack even a stronger punch than what we’ve already experienced.”
He said there are slight chances of a storm that could be a G5, which on the geomagnetic storm scale is ranked as “severe.”
Dahl said such geomagnetic storms are variable and dynamic.
On the everyday level, the storm could impact GPS systems.
As for potentially larger issues the storms could cause, NOAA also is talking to government officials about space launches and possible impacts to the power grid, Dahl said.
Lake County and other parts of the nation that don’t usually get to see the northern lights previously experienced an aurora show in May of 2024.
To get the latest aurora forecasts, visit NOAA’s Space Weather Prediction Center aurora forecast page.
Email Elizabeth Larson at
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- Written by: Elizabeth Larson
MIDDLETOWN, Calif. — The Middletown Area Town Hall, or MATH, will meet this week to discuss community projects and board nominations.
MATH will meet at 7 p.m. Thursday, Nov. 13, in the Middletown Community Meeting Room/Library at 21256 Washington St., Middletown. The meeting is open to the public.
Zoom will not be available. Viewers can participate via PEG TV at www.youtube.com/LakeCountyPegTV.
On the agenda is a presentation on the Lake County Zero-Emission Vehicle Plan, led by Alexandra Haag, a transportation engineer and planner with the Lake Area Planning Council. There also will be a question and answer session, and community input on potential locations for chargers.
District 1 Supervisor Helen Owen also is on the agenda to offer an update on community and county projects.
There also will be a beginning discussion on the naming of the library park and nominations for board seats will continue.
MATH — established by resolution of the Lake County Board of Supervisors on Dec. 12, 2006 — is a municipal advisory council serving the residents of Anderson Springs, Cobb, Coyote Valley (including Hidden Valley Lake), Long Valley and Middletown.
For more information email
Email Elizabeth Larson at
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- Written by: Elizabeth Larson
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