PHOTOS: Northern Lights seen above Ringtown Valley
KAYLEE LINDENMUTH / SHENANDOAH SENTINEL - The Aurora Borealis is seen over the Ringtown Valley on Feb. 26, 2023.
UNION TOWNSHIP – If you looked to the north from atop Locust Mountain or another hilltop and saw a faint red-ish glow in the sky Sunday night just before 11pm, you may have seen the Aurora Borealis.
For presumably the first time in years, the Aurora, or Northern Lights, put on a show in the northern sky in our area, albeit difficult to see with the naked eye.
According to the Geophysical Institute at the University of Alaska Fairbanks, a Kp number is a system of measuring aurora strength, measuring from 0 to 9, 0 being calm, 9 being a major geomagnetic storm.
A Kp number of 6 was forecast for Sunday, which according to UAF, means the aurora could potentially be visible on the horizon in Pennsylvania, Ohio, Indiana, Illinois, Iowa, Nebraska, New York, and more. In parts of Main, New York, Michigan, Wisconsin, and all of North Dakota, the aurora could potentially be visible overhead.
From the Ringtown Valley Scenic View in Union Township, long-exposure photographs captured a stunning aurora looking north towards Berwick and the Route 11 corridor around 11pm.
A visible aurora in Schuylkill County is extraordinarily rare, with some residents reporting having last seen the lights in our area in the 1980s.
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