DEVELOPING: Northern lights visible from Arlington

Arlingtonians with an eye to the sky were treated to the northern lights tonight (Thursday).

Reports of visible aurora borealis in the D.C. area started coming in around 7:30 p.m. While visible to the naked eye, the auroras could be more clearly seen on long exposure photos.

It’s rare for northern lights to be seen this far south and this close to the city lights of a major metropolitan area. But an ongoing severe solar storm and clear conditions — unlike during another geomagnetic storm earlier this year — made it possible.

From the Associated Press :

The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration issued a severe geomagnetic storm watch for Thursday into Friday after an outburst from the sun was detected earlier this week. Such a storm could temporarily disrupt power and radio signals.

NOAA has notified operators of power plants and orbiting spacecraft to take precautions. It also alerted the Federal Emergency Management Agency about possible power disruptions, as the organization copes with the devastating aftermath of Hurricane Helene and gears up for Hurricane Milton barreling across the Gulf of Mexico toward Florida.

Forecasters do not expect the latest solar storm to surpass the one that slammed Earth in May, the strongest in more than two decades. But they won’t know for sure until it’s just 1 million miles (1.6 million kilometers) away, where spacecraft can measure it.

Additional aurora sighting are possible tonight due to an intensification of the solar storm.

More from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s Space Weather Prediction Center:

Additional images of the northern lights as seen from Arlington are below.