Northern Lights come out to play in Northwest

By Scott Sistek Published: Jul 15, 2012 at 2:03 PM PDT Last Updated: Jul 16, 2012 at 1:56 PM PDT
Northern Lights come out to play in Northwest
Northern Lights over Sparks Lake, Oregon on July 15, 2012. (Photo © Brad Goldpaint, Goldpaint Photography)

Wade B. Clark took photos from Lyman, just east of Sedro-Woolley.

"FINALLY got to see the northern lights again! Not much visually, but some interesting colors in the photos," Clark said.

He said the photos were taken between midnight and 1:10 a.m.

And photographer Chris Teren of Teren Photograpy not only got photos, but time lapse video of the event from Friday Harbor:

And Luke Humphrey was up at Sahale Glacier in the North Cascades when the aurora put on a display. Watch as we also get a bit of lenticular cloud activity over the mountain peaks:

According to Spaceweather.com, at first the solar storm appeared weaker than forecast, but a second wave later in the night added some power to the solar storm and the aurora energized, with sightings as far south as Oregon and California.

(P.S. If you're in the Bend, Ore. area, Goldpaint will be giving a presentation on July 28.)