Geomagnetic Storm

Lake Simcoe, Ontario Oct 10 2024

With the sun at the height of its11 year solar cycle, I've been looking forward to some good northern lights displays, and we've now had a couple of them this year. This G4 level solar storm produced the most brilliant aurora borealis that I've ever seen in Ontario (even better than the May 10th storm). The Coronal Mass Ejection (CME) began hitting Earth during the daylight hours, so I was hoping for a good display right after sunset, and I was not disappointed. I drove away from the city lights of Toronto up to De La Salle Beach on Lake Simcoe, Near Georgina. I was spellbound by the display from sunset until I finally got home at 3 A.M.   There were two occasions when I left my viewing spot with the intention to go home, but then the northern lights managed to ramp up again, so I'd turn right around. What a night. It was totally worth missing some sleep over.

As soon as the sun set, I cold start to see the red colours, even just with the naked eye.	At first, it was mostly reds and pink/purple.	Looking north out over Lake Simcoe.

As the evening progressed, the northern lights kept ramping up and down with amazing greens and reds. The light on the horizon in the distance is the glow of street lights in the town of Orillia.	The lights reflected in the water was awesome.	Shimmering sheets colour would come and go, getting more intense for periods of time.

At one point, this was my view looking straight up.	Northern lights over a local farmhouse.	After midnight, the aurora really started to get wild. the strobing and flickering were unlike anything I've ever seen in Ontario before. It was more light seeing them in the Arctic.

For years I've wanted to photograph the aurora IN the town of Aurora. So, on my way home, I made a slight detour and managed to check off that bucket-list item.	The auroral oval map from Oct 10th. There were reports of northern lights as far as Key West & Puerto Rico.	My GPS location in relation to the auroral oval.

The KP index reached about 8.5.	Sunspot 3848 was the one responsible for the coronal mass ejection that triggered this geomagnetic storm.	The CME blast from the sun that happened to be aimed at Earth.

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