Northern Lights Now – An extended period of high solar winds, the result of a large Earth-directed coronal hole, put on a three day long show for aurora hunters in high latitudes in early March. Photographers captured aurora glows, pillars, picket fences, dancing displays and illuminated night landscapes from around the world between mid March 1 through early March 4. Here’s a spectacular time lapse video from Adam Hill showing a wave of northern lights racing westward through the sky.
And the #aurora put on a show I'll never forget! This timelapse was over approx. 10 minutes! #exploreCanada #spectacularnwt #northernlights pic.twitter.com/AH7N9NMwva
— Adam Hill (@Adamhillstudios) March 3, 2017
This extended storm was measured by the Space Weather Prediction Center (SWPC) as 9 periods of G1 storming and one period of G2 storming over 66 hours. G1 storming means the KP reached 4.67 and aurora can be visible as far south as Toronto, the upper midwest in the United States, Seattle and Scotland and can be seen as far north as Invercargill and Tasmania in the Southern Hemisphere. G2 storming means aurora can be seen at even lower latitudes near cities such as Portland, Boise, Dublin, Hamburg, Moscow and Christchurch. This chart show the first 5 days of March with the G1 and G2 3-hour periods showing in Red.

This early march storm is the result of a coronal hole that was pointed towards earth at the end of February. The hole is shown as a dark area on AIA 193 in the image below. It exposes the high speed solar wind emanating from the solar surface. Here’s an image of the coronal hole from the Solar Dynamics Observatory:

Those high speed solar winds take 2-5 days to arrive at Earth, and when they do they push on the magnetosphere and can cause aurora. This means that when there is a coronal hole pointed towards Earth solar scientists can predict that there is a good chance for activity 1-3 days in advance. Watch for those predictions on the NLN 3-day aurora cast – potential G1 storming shows as orange on those charts.
Let’s enjoy the view! Here are a few of our favorite tweets from this storm:
Watch the cloud clear and the lights come out to play in this time lapse
TL of the #Aurora on 1. This is from 23:30 – 01:00 UTC @TweetAurora @TamithaSkov pic.twitter.com/Pul3Ag52pA
— Ragnar Rock (@R4gn4rR0ck) March 3, 2017
Stan’s take shows the aurora in black and white – this really brings out the texture and shapes
Yesterdays #blackandwhite #aurora out shone todays #northernlights @mikesobel @aurorawatch @TweetAurora pic.twitter.com/bREP8ki0Kk
— Images By Stan (@ImagesByStan) March 3, 2017
This panorama is worth clicking on and viewing full screen!
The elusive isolated red arc of aurora known locally as Steve appeared March 2 over us in Alberta, well south of the main aurora. @AuroraMAX pic.twitter.com/i32FHs87z3
— Alan Dyer (@amazingskyguy) March 3, 2017
Finally, one of our favorite types of aurora – the “Picket Fence”
Wow. When you see a picket fence aurora you go gaga! #AuroraAustralis #Dunedin #astronomy #astrophotograpy pic.twitter.com/qDpwEOQe4T
— Ian Griffin (@iangriffin) March 3, 2017
If you would like to have a chance to see the northern lights in person, consider following the NLN twitter feed (@northlightalert) to learn more about why aurora happen and when they may be visible.