Northern Lights Visible Over Plainfield on Thursday Night

PLAINFIELD, NJ — Area residents were treated to a rare light show on Thursday night. Pink and green Northern Lights, or auroran were visible across the region because of a large coronal mass ejection or CME according to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration or NOAA’s Space Weather Prediction Center.

Strong geomagnetic storm warnings were issued by the SWPC, predicting “strong” solar wind conditions with the possibility of “severe” levels and “even a slight chance of extreme levels.”

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Plainfield resident Laura Miranda-Browne reports seeing the lights around 10:20pm, and said the phenomenon laster around 20 minutes. She was able to take a picture with her phone that she shared with TAPinto Plainfield.

According to SWPC the geomagnetic conditions could impact communications for systems that rely on low Earth orbit satellites or High-Frequency devices. They could even impact hurricane relief efforts, according to NOAA by putting additional stress on power grids compromised because of the hurricanes. GPS services could also be “degraded.”

With clear skies the Northern Lights were predicted to be visible as far south as Alabama and northern California.

The CME was predicted by SWPC and arrived at Earth around 11:15 a.m.

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