Weather

The Northern Lights Danced And Delighted Across The U.S. This Weekend [Photos]

The aurora danced all weekend as the sun spit out "coronal mass ejections" that slammed into Earth's magnetic field and outer atmosphere.

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The northern lights flare in the sky over a farmhouse late Friday in Brunswick, Maine. Dazzling displays of pink, green, red and yellow lights were seen as far south as Fort Lauderdale, Florida, over the weekend.
The northern lights flare in the sky over a farmhouse late Friday in Brunswick, Maine. Dazzling displays of pink, green, red and yellow lights were seen as far south as Fort Lauderdale, Florida, over the weekend. (AP Photo/Robert F. Bukaty)

ACROSS AMERICA — Americans from one end of the country to the other were enchanted with colorful aurora borealis displays as far south as Fort Lauderdale, Florida, over the weekend after geomagnetic storming reached levels not seen in two decades.

The U.S. National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration issued a rare severe geomagnetic storm warning Friday when a solar outburst reached Earth on Friday afternoon, hours sooner than anticipated. The northern lights, as the aurora borealis is known, were also on display in Germany, Switzerland, China, England, Spain and elsewhere.

Some northern tier U.S. states could see the aurora again Monday night, according to NOAA’s Space Weather Prediction Center.

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Aurora sightings were reported throughout the weekend as the sun continued to spit out “coronal mass ejections” — clouds of ejected solar plasma that can cause power grid irregularities and issues with high-frequency communications and global positioning systems — that slammed into Earth’s magnetic field and outer atmosphere.

Rob Steenburgh, a scientist with NOAA’s Space Weather Prediction Center, called the aurora a “gift from space weather.”

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Although the solar storm was the most intense in two decades, the strongest ever recorded was in 1859, which sent auroras as far south as Central America and possibly even Hawaii.

Here are some of the photos from around the country.

In this image taken with a long exposure, people look at the night sky toward the northern lights, or aurora borealis, in Estacada, Oregon, Friday. Brilliant purple, green, yellow and pink hues of the Northern Lights were reported worldwide, with sightings in Germany, Switzerland, London, and the United States and Canada. (AP Photo/Jenny Kane)
The northern lights fill the sky at the Bogus Basin ski resort on Saturday in Boise, Idaho. (AP Photo/Kyle Green)
The aurora borealis is visible over Ann Arbor, Michigan, early Saturday. (AP Photo/Dee-Ann Durbin)
In this image taken with a long exposure, cars pass by as people look at the night sky toward the northern lights,on Friday in Estacada, Oregon. Brilliant purple, green, yellow and pink hues of the northern lights were reported worldwide, with sightings in Germany, Switzerland, London, and the United States and Canada. (AP Photo/Jenny Kane)
An old tombstone stands against the northern lights at a cemetery in Skidmore, Missouri, early Saturday. (AP Photo/Charlie Riedel)
The northern lights glow in the sky over St. Croix State Forest near Markville, Minnesota, late Friday. (AP Photo/Mark Vancleave)
The northern lights shine over Portsmouth, New Hampshire, Friday. (AP Photo/Caleb Jones)
Northern lights shine over Portsmouth, New Hampshire, Friday. (AP Photo/Caleb Jones)

The Associated Press contributed to this report.

The northern lights glow in the sky near Kroschel, Minnesota, late Friday. (Owen Caputo Sullivan via AP

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