Aurora borealis lights Northern Michigan skies following early evening rain

PETOSKEY — On a night that started with some rain and dark clouds came a shimmering sky, with the Northern Lights dancing over Little Traverse Bay.

The dark clouds were likely due to a storm that moved from north to south, said Joseph DeLizio, a meteorologist at the National Weather Service office in Gaylord.

More: PHOTOS: Northern Lights dance over Little Traverse Bay

Green and red colors in the aurora borealis were not visible to the naked eye on Monday night, but they did show up on cell phones and long-exposure photos.

While cloudy skies blocked out part of the light show, the clouds hung low enough to the horizon to allow the lights to shine.

DeLizio noted that not all clouds are created equal, with some clouds being easier to see through than others.

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"If the Northern Lights are out and there's some very, very thin translucent clouds then certainly you can probably still see it, but largely, all the other types of cloud probably block a good deal of it," he said.

While showers and thunderstorms made their way through the area early in the evening, a few heavy clouds lingered in the sky closer to midnight, DeLizio said.

— Contact reporter Karly Graham at kgraham@petoskeynews.com. Follow her on Twitter at @KarlyGrahamJRN .

This article originally appeared on The Petoskey News-Review: Aurora borealis lights Northern Michigan skies following early evening rain