January 7, 2015 Auroras
Grand Rapids, MN
I got an awakening phone call at 3:15 AM alerting me to the presence of a very southward Bz. Not long after I had gone to bed, Bz dropped south to -20 nT. Persistent values that low can bring auroras directly overhead, and this was the first time in more than a year we had seen values that low.
On the other hand, it well past local midnight, and Bz had not actually been south that long, but one can never pass up -20 nT. The weather was a beautiful -17 degrees Fahrenheit with a fairly gusty northwest wind. It was pretty brutal outside. I actually prefer colder temperatures with a calm wind. Your hands don't freeze quite as quickly in those conditions.
I suited up with two layers of long underwear, jeans, turtleneck (remember those?), sweather, snowpants, and jacket. It was five layers on top and four on the bottom. I'm not sure if the double long underwear layer does much better than a single layer, but hopefully it wasn't worse.
In my slow-thinking state of mind after having been awakened from a deep sleep, I opted for the closest dark option, which was none other than the Peterson Road bog. It would have been nice to get up into the Chippewa National Forest, but there were a LOT of ice crystals in the air, along with low clouds, which were illuminated pretty brightly for how thin they were, thanks to the nearly full moon. These sky conditions reduced my motivation to go anywhere with really awesome foregrounds, and I just wanted to stay close to home so I could go back to bed and get a couple hours more sleep if I didn't see anything.
After waiting for about half an hour and taking a bunch of shots, I could see auroras on my images, but they were pretty well-blended with the arctic clouds. I had sufficient documentation of the event-- time to go back home, but on my way out, some tall columns started to appear, so I decided to turn around and take a few more pictures. Here is my favorite one.
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| Auroras at Peterson Road in Grand Rapids at 4:30 AM.. |