Northern lights dazzle in the night sky across B.C. - Action News
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British Columbia

Northern lights dazzle in the night sky across B.C.

The northern lights dazzled across British Columbia's night sky on Thursday.

Hues of green and purple were visible as far south as the Vancouver and Victoria areas

Green and purple lights in the sky.
This photo by Julie Mackey shows the aurora borealis in the skies above Wells, B.C. (Julie Mackey)

The northern lights illuminated the night sky across Canada on Thursday with a dazzling display of greens and pinks.

The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration'sSpace Weather Prediction Center(SWPC) predicteda major geomagnetic storm would reach Earth Thursday and Friday, triggered by solar activity on the sun.

The storm, a disturbance of the planet's magnetic field,producedmoving lights in the sky across the country.

While northern lights area phenomenon normally reserved for northern skies, they could be seen as far south as the Vancouver and Victoria areas on Thursday night.

Purple light in the sky above a dark bay.
The northern lights from Saxe Point Park in Esquimalt, B.C., on Thursday night. (Madeline Green/CBC)
Green lights above the Lions Gate Bridge
Greens were dominant in the aurora above North Vancouver. (Srinivas Raghavan)
A band of green in the sky above the silhouette of mountains.
The northern lights above Stanley Park. (Darius Mahdavi/CBC)
Hues of green and pink above the North Vancouver skyline.
The aurora shimmers above Vancouver. (Tanushi Bhatnagar/CBC)
Pink and purple light in the night sky
The northern lights lit up the sky above Kamloops. (Marcella Bernardo/CBC)

During the storm,solar particles are scattered byexplosions of energy on the sun's surface called coronal mass ejections. When those particles interact with elements in the Earth's atmosphere, they cause distinct colours in the sky.

Green lights dominate the sky above the silhouette of mountains
The aurora seen from Cherry Creek, just outside Kamloops. (Vicki Baerg)
Green and purple lights in a night sky
Aurora borealis over Hudson's Hope, B.C. (Jeremy Mahon)

The SWPC said it expects the storm to continue on Friday, which may continue to produce the aurora borealis across Canada's skies.