MYNORTHWEST NEWS

Aurora borealis streaks through night sky across Washington state

Oct 12, 2021, 6:50 AM | Updated: 10:22 am

Aurora borealis...

The aurora borealis in the sky above northern Spokane in early October 2021. (WSDOT East, Twitter)

(WSDOT East, Twitter)

The aurora borealis made a brief appearance in night skies across Washington state on Monday night, thanks to a solar flare that emanated off the sun over the weekend.

Aurora borealis makes appearance in Seattle night sky

The flare was said to have started its move toward Earth on Saturday, arriving sometime around Monday afternoon. While the negative impacts of such a flare on the planet were minimal, eagle-eyed viewers — particularly those with high-quality time-lapse cameras — may have seen an aurora borealis from the resulting solar storm everywhere from the Puget Sound region to Spokane.

The nighttime aerial light show kicked in around 8 p.m., making itself most visible to those furthest away from city centers. Sightings in Western Washington were reported near the U.S./Canada border just north of Lynden, Washington, moving as far south as Marysville.

In Eastern Washington, the aurora made an appearance near northern Spokane, with a green light streaking through the night sky around 11 p.m.

You can watch a time lapse of the experience courtesy of Skunk Bay Weather here.

MyNorthwest News

amazon data center...

Associated Press

Amazon to invest $1B into data center communities amid backlash against data center rollouts

Amazon is investing $1 billion over the next five years into communities where it operates data centers for education, job training, water preservation projects, and other local priorities.

30 minutes ago

marysville house fire...

KIRO 7 News Staff

Man killed in Marysville house fire; multiple pets unaccounted for

One person has died, and several family pets are still unaccounted for following a fire in Marysville on Thursday.

2 hours ago

healthcare food benefits washington residents...

Brandon Thompson, KIRO 7 News

11,000+ Washington residents lose healthcare, food benefits

More than 11,000 Washington state residents are losing access to healthcare and food benefits today due to changes under the federal law known as H.R. 1, also known as the One Big Beautiful Act.

2 hours ago

sunny fall weekend...

Ted Buehner

Western Washington eyes a sunny fall weekend

This weekend’s weather will be about as good as it gets for early October.

2 hours ago

weekend...

Paul Holden

Spooky pets and tasty bites: October fun arrives in the Seattle area this weekend

We are really getting into the spirit of fall now that we have hit October, and that means lots of spooky season events happening this weekend.

2 hours ago

Costco (4)...

Julia Dallas

Costco sued over ‘sugar-free’ claims on Kirkland electrolyte drink mix

Costco is being sued over a “sugar-free” electrolyte drink mix that plaintiff Mason Maldonado alleged is falsely advertised.

13 hours ago

Aurora borealis streaks through night sky across Washington state