Northern Lights Dazzle NorCal. Will They Return Soon?

BAY AREA — It seems the northern lights won’t strike twice across the Bay Area this week, but even showing up once is rare magic. The aurora borealis lit up the skies over parts of Northern California late Saturday night and early Sunday morning, according to several reports and many dazzling photos posted by stargazers from across the Bay Area.

The lights were visible as far south as Sonoma and Modoc counties from around 10 p.m. Saturday to sunrise Sunday, according to KRON4 and KTVU. Images and videos posted from around the North Bay show vivid displays of red, green, and violet darting across the sky, marking the second time in just over a year that the lights have made a rare visit to Northern California.

The geomagnetic storm responsible for the aurora was triggered by a coronal mass ejection, or a powerful burst of solar particles. The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration classified the storm as a G4 on its five-point scale. The May 2024 storm was marked a G5.

“The fact that we’ve had a similar incident two years in a row — that’s exceptionally unusual,” Chabot Space and Science Center astronomer Gerald McKeegan told SFGATE.

The NOAA predicted that another wave of charged particles could reach Earth between 8 p.m. and 11 p.m., potentially leading to another wave of lights at higher elevations and darker inland areas.

However, by late Sunday, cloud cover rolled in, and no sightings were reported. The NOAA’s official aurora dashboard reported that geomagnetic activity had decreased to G1, considered “minor” and insufficient to generate visible auroras. No confirmed sightings were reported Sunday night or early Monday morning.

The agency’s 3-day forecast issued Monday morning shows the Kp index falling steadily, with Monday night activity expected to peak in the G2-G3 range. This might sustain auroras in Washington, Canada, or Alaska, but is likely too weak to be visible in the Bay Area.

But disappointed stargazers can take solace in the fact that if the aurora has already visited twice, she may return next year.

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