Northern lights makes appearance in southern Wisconsin

 

BELGIUM, Wis. (CBS 58) -- A rare treat -- the northern lights -- showed up in southern Wisconsin last night, bringing a number of people outside to get a glimpse.

So far, they're not here. But, if you're going to see the northern lights ever, it's gonna be in a place like this. We're at Harrington Beach State Park. And if we turn the lights out now, you'll see it's pitch black.

These amazing pictures are courtesy of Eric Curtin.

"This is something I do on the side for fun," said photographer Eric Curtin.

Curtin took us to the lakefront in Belgium where he snapped these incredible shots.

"But a lot of it was pretty much north here where you can see the Sheboygan smoke stacks, all of this here and you could see it past these trees. It was amazing," said Curtin.

At 10:00 p.m. Thursday night, a Facebook post brought Curtin to his feet. A friend in Sheboygan was looking at the northern lights.

"So, I grabbed my stuff, got it ready and came down here. As I was coming down the road you could actually see them over the corn fields just looking north," said Curtin.

Social media blew up as the northern lights dazzled Wisconsinites from Saukville to Plymouth to Grafton.

"I have seen the northern lights, but I've never seen them this far south and as vivid and bright as what they were last night," said Curtin.

What exactly makes the hazy rays of green, red and purple in the night sky?

"The northern lights are electricity, it's our atmosphere glowing, and it glows because of the energy from the sun, but not normal sunlight, there has to be a huge storm on the sun. These particles from the sun slam into the earth and create the northern lights. So, the bigger the storm on the sun, the better chance you have of seeing them if you're further south," said Bob Bonadurer, Milwaukee Public Museum planetarium director.

Bob Bonadurer says if you're northern lights chasing, follow the Aurora Facebook groups, and SpaceWeather.com for inside tips.

"They call it the KP Index on the sun, that's gone down quite a bit today, I saw it earlier today at around 4 and last night it was up at 7 and a half and that's, when it's about six, then you have a chance for northern lights so it’s below that right now, so the chances aren't as good tonight, but you never know. The Aurora can be kind of fickle sometimes," said Bonadurer

Twenty-four hours later, the latest weather maps sadly put Wisconsin outside the Aurora viewing area.

"To really see them you just need to keep up with it and you need to be willing to travel a bit to get away from the street lights. That's really important because the Aurora can be a soft glow and not as intense as it was last night," said Bonadurer.

With a snowstorm approaching, it doesn't look like I'll be able to cross northern lights off my bucket list just yet.