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Northern Lights Ruined Our Valentine’s Day

Last night, Kristin and I opened up a nice bottle Rioja and sat in front of a blazing fireplace. Candles were lit all over. We were having a lovely Valentine Day evening when my cell phone rang. It was Pawel, our neighbor. He said, “You have to look! I’ve never seen it this big.” Earlier in the evening, we saw good — not great — northern lights, but I called Pawel anyway because I knew his wife really wanted to see it. Since then, his eyes had been peeled looking out the window until the sky exploded.

Forget romance! Overrated! Who needs romance when there is northern light? We donned our layers of clothing, grabbed the camera and tripod and rushed outside. The sky was not clear, but the northern lights were so strong that they lit up the clouds. They danced overhead. Different colors besides green: red, purple, orange, flashed. I stood in the bitterly cold wind, holding my tripod with my camera mounted on it, not knowing if I should take lots of pictures or if I should just stare.

Spaceweather.com had this to day about last night’s auroras: “For reasons not fully understood by forecasters, a disturbance rippled through Earth’s magnetic field on Feb. 14th. Perhaps it was Cupid’s arrow. The impact sparked some sweet lights around the Arctic Circle.”

15 minutes later, it was mostly gone. I did manage to take a few pictures. Here they are:

10 Comments
  1. Amazing. The best Valentines Day ever!!!! 🙂

    February 15, 2012
  2. Wow,never seen something like that

    February 15, 2012
  3. Don #

    Wow….!

    February 15, 2012
  4. Hakan Sarbanoglu #

    Your special evening must have been gifted…

    February 15, 2012
  5. Living in Russia I’ve heard about these lights a lot from my childhood and saw a lot of pictures.
    Now what to go to the nothern part of the country and see everything with my own eyes! Next winter I’ll do it…
    Wish you have such Valentine day every year!

    February 15, 2012
  6. Amazing shots! I would love to see the northern lights in person someday!

    February 15, 2012
  7. Amazing !

    February 16, 2012
  8. Marjolein #

    Gorgeous!

    February 16, 2012
  9. Jerry Brody #

    Thanks for the treat.

    February 16, 2012
  10. Genevieve Wolfe #

    It may not have been the Valentines’ celebration you had planned, but I’ll wager it’s one you’ll never forget! Thank you for sharing your photos and Happy Valentines’ Day!

    February 17, 2012

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