Northern Lights Not So Northern Lately, Seen This Week in Texas Panhandle

The Northern Lights are usually only seen in Canada and the northern United States, but the lights are being seen here in Texas because of a geomagnetic storm.

The Aurora Borealis has been making its presence known here in Texas and other southern states in an odd phenomenon called a geomagnetic storm that brings beauty down south to us.

An explosion on the surface of the sun sent a massive amount of energy toward Earth which collided with the Earth's magnetic field and created a very potent magnetic storm.

But with beauty comes the possibility of major power outages. The Space Weather Prediction Center in Boulder, Colorado has issued a Level 4 on this geomagnetic storm to warn about the possibility of power outages.

And there is more to come according to NOAA.

“Certainly what you saw [Sunday night] was the biggest in the last five years,” said Bill Murtagh, Program Coordinator with NOAA. “We’re going to see a lot more activity like this in the next several years because we’re going to be in the maximum phase of the sunspot cycle.”

Here in Texas, the Aurora Borealis was seen near Turkey, Texas, and Stinnett, Texas which is the second time they have seen the Northern Lights, the first time being just a month ago.

Here are some pictures that have been caught by people and posted on Twitter and Facebook.

Looks like there might be more Northern Lights to see in the months to come if the geomagnetic storm continues.