November 13, 2012 Auroras
Bagley, MN
A CME had just hit Earth's magnetic field, and Bz was dropping to nearly -20 nT, but there were clouds in Grand Rapids. The southward deviation of the interplanetary magnetic field was impressive, so I was pretty convinced the auroral display would be impressive as well. I figured the clearing would be somewhere around Fosston in time for me to drive out to see the show then head back home before it got too late.
My plans were somewhat foiled as Bz went north on my drive to Fosston. However, I know that auroras persist for at least an hour after Bz shoots north, so I kept driving to my target. I found clearing just west of Bagley, and I stopped at County Road 24 and U.S. 2, almost halfway in-between Bagley and Fosston. The auroras were fading as Bz stayed north, and there were also some "fake" auroras due to the dendritic snow falling from the clouds. The snowflakes reflect ground sources of light in such a manner that there appear to be columns of auroras around when, in actuality, there may not be auroras present. In this case there were, so I saw real and fake auroras.
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| Real auroras behind the clouds and . |