Clear Metro Vancouver skies could make way for Halloween treat: the northern lights
Auroral activity will be “high” tonight and could be seen in parts of B.C., including Metro Vancouver, according to a University of Alaska forecast.
Metro Vancouver could be in for a Halloween treat as cold and clear skies forecast could make way for a sighting of the northern lights. However, photographers who sat in wait for the colourful phenomenon Saturday are doubtful it will appear.
It will be 2º Celsius with light winds from the northeast Sunday evening, according to Environment Canada. A strong geomagnetic storm watch remains in effect by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration.
Auroral activity will be “high” tonight and could be seen in parts of B.C., including Metro Vancouver, according to a University of Alaska forecast.
“The aurora is a luminous glow seen around the magnetic poles of the northern and southern hemispheres. The light is caused by collisions between electrically charged particles streaming out from the sun in the solar wind that enter Earth’s atmosphere and collide with molecules and atoms of gas, primarily oxygen and nitrogen.”
Photographers who stood watch at Spanish Banks for hours Saturday night were disappointed not to catch a glimpse of the famed aurora borealis by morning. One of them, Langley’s Tina Taphouse drove to Whistler the past two nights.
“I waited, and nothing. I’m not hopeful they’ll make an appearance tonight,” said Taphouse. “I have been chasing the northern lights for years and have only captured them once in Whistler in 2017.”
North Vancouver hobby photographer Mark Teasdale said he’s lived around Vancouver for more than five decades and never beheld the northern lights.
“Seeing with the naked eye is so rare,” Teasdale tweeted Sunday morning.
