Colorado Didn’t See Northern Lights, But They Were As Close As Nebraska

DENVER (CBS4) - A widespread episode of the northern lights didn’t materialize in the skies over Colorado Tuesday night but the prospect sure was exciting.

The elusive phenomena of nature was sighted as close as Nebraska, however.

The following tweet was from the Omaha vicinity.

Watching the #NorthernLights from #omaha #nebraska! #AuroraBorealis #aurora http://t.co/G4psMvWOas

—
Brad Sugden (@bradsugdenwowt) March 18, 2015

A storm chaser near Bayard, Neb., not too from the Colorado state line, caught the northern lights with a long exposure camera.

@wxbrad Still seeing them not by the naked eye but with my long exposure camera in Western #Nebraska http://t.co/lM2hx2KcbL

—
Josh Alecci (@AlecciJosh) March 18, 2015

And our very own CBS4 Photojournalist Rob McClure may have even caught a tiny glimpse with his long exposure camera while near Fort Morgan during the 10 p.m. news last night.

#mwxl monitoring possibility of #AuroraBorealis in E Colorado 2nite. Severe geomagnetic storm aprching our latitudes http://t.co/0aAB6nbH1k

—
Rob McClure (@RobCBS4) March 18, 2015

By far, the place to be in the United States to see the Aurora Borealis with the naked eye on Tuesday night was in Michigan, Minnesota and Wisconsin.

But there were reports of sightings as far south as Delaware County, Ohio.

The following image was captured in Michigan.

Some of the best #NorthernLights #AuroraBorealis I've ever seen in #UpperMichigan @Aurora_Alerts http://t.co/BMtbhxrcwW

—
Jeremiah Baumann (@JBaumannTweets) March 18, 2015

It was just as spectacular across much of Minnesota.

BOOM! Northern Lights this Tuesday night in Grand Marais, Minnesota. Photo: David Johnson. #Aurora #NorthernLights http://t.co/OctRVGPpVK

—
Mark Tarello (@mark_tarello) March 18, 2015

If you think those images are pretty, the pictures were even more incredible at times across southern Canada, northern Europe and parts of Asia.

Twitter was definitely a fun place to be on Tuesday night to watch the solar storm in real-time.

Reports of the Aurora Borealis could be seen on AuroraSaurus, a website that allows the public to report sightings.

You Reporter Jared Tadlock captured this beautiful scene Tuesday night around 11 p.m. while looking for the northern lights from atop Squaw Pass, in the foothills west of Denver.

It’s hard to confirm what this is because the northern lights are often greens, purples and blues.

But it may in fact be related to the intense solar storm in progress at the time.

(credit: Jared Tadlock)

The picture was taken looking to the northwest with a 10-second exposure on his camera.

And this picture, seen with the naked eye, was snapped early on Tuesday morning in western Colorado when the solar storm was initially starting to impact Earth.

@ChrisCBS4 This was from Paradox Valley, Montrose County Colorado 3/17 at 3:19am! http://t.co/ywBsV2UntR

—
Derick Wilson (@TheUmno) March 17, 2015

While it’s disappointing that we didn’t luck out in Colorado with a widespread display of the northern lights, the excitement generated by the “slim chance” of seeing the phenomena was almost as exciting as when I was a child waiting for Santa.

Meteorologist Chris Spears writes about stories related to weather and climate in Colorado. Check out his bio or follow him on Twitter @ChrisCBS4.