Winter’s Child; Northern Lights

The internets are abuzz with talk of the recent “solar tsunami” and coronal mass ejections headed straight for our planet. The sun has lay dormant for what, astronomers say, seems too long. Last night was the night, though, as magnetic waves from these CMEs crashed into Earth – in Seattle we had a 45% chance of catching Aurorae. They’re hard to catch – these ghostly magnetic waves – especially anywhere in the lower 48 states.

The first set of Aurora Borealis I remember seeing was in October – I couldn’t have been more than 12.  It was just after a 4H Halloween costume party; my sister and I had dressed in drag (meaning wigs, and my mom’s old clothes).   We were on our way home, to my parents’ house out by the lake.  We came over the crest of a hill where the rolling mountains dipped down into themselves. Mom pulled the car over, and there, above the second crest, over where the lake should be, were a wash of green and white lines against the midnight sky.

The second occurrence I remember seeing was much more spectacular; and at the time, it was more significant in that I knew what I was looking at. I was probably about 15 or 16 and the snow had finally faded into spring. It was close to midnight when my dad called – both he and my mom were out of the house. My sister and I had been asleep until the phone rang. I groggily stumbled out into the kitchen to answer it and on the other end my dad was telling me to go outside and look at the sky. He’d been on his way home and saw the deep red lights over the mountains. I went out onto the cold ground and standing there in front of the back door, I looked up into a red sky, dotted with dark clouds.

I remember sitting there on the trampoline in the middle of the yard, staring up into what should have been the dark, night sky. The illuminated heavens bathed everything in a red wash, and when my dad arrived only 5 minutes later we sat there in the yard watching this amazing spectacle.

I’d say I was lucky to have seen them then – most people don’t realize they’re seeing northern lights.  If you catch them, remember that moment – the sun’s cycle happens every 11 years and it might be another 11 before you see them again.