The Northern Lights: One of Mother Nature’s Greatest Spectacles

DULUTH, MN – Throughout the year, we are treated here in the Northland with one of Mother Nature’s greatest visual displays, the northern lights, or, aurora borealis.  Typically, one would have to take a drive up the North Shore from Duluth hoping that it is worth the drive.  This weekend we were spared the travel time and the northern lights came to us, visible to most of Minnesota and northern Wisconsin.

The northern lights, and southern lights, are a product of solar winds interacting with Earth’s atmosphere.  Solar flares emitted from the sun produce additional radiation and magnetic fields that comprise these winds.  When charged particles within the solar wind come in contact with Earth’s atmosphere, they can become agitated. This causes them to glow, and when there are enough of these particles, they are visible to us here on earth. The color of the light depends on the altitude of the geomagnetic storm, as well as the type of atoms involved in the storm such as oxygen or nitrogen.

Earth’s magnetic field typically doesn’t allow the northern lights to venture very far south, but in the case of a stronger solar wind, we get the opportunity to see them here in Duluth.

There is a better chance for the northern lights to happen around the time of the autumn and spring equinox, as well as during the longer winter nights.  The sun is also more likely to emit stronger solar flares during the peak of its approximately 11 year cycle which is expected to happen in July of 2025.