Northern lights going back north
Western Pennsylvania got a rare visit from the northern lights over the weekend nights of May 10 and May 11, but the solar event that caused them to venture this far south has ended, according to a meteorologist.
Colton Milcarek, with National Weather Service Pittsburgh, said Sunday, May 12, a geomagnetic storm caused the lights to be visible throughout the region, and that event is winding down, so the lights were visible only as far south as Erie on Sunday night. Milcarek said he is not an astronomer, but as he understands it, the geomagnetic storm reached the highest levels possible Friday, which led to the ability for people across the nation to see the northern lights overnight.
“We got pretty lucky with some of the photos Friday night,” Milcarek said. “There was just a real period of explosive activity on the sun that resulted in geomagnetic interruptions and that's where that comes from.”
This weekend was fraught with weather events unusual to this area, with a tornado also reportedly touching down in the Finleyville area in Washington County on Saturday evening, according to Milcarek. The tornado is currently rated EF1, which indicates wind speeds between 86 and 110 miles per hour, but Milcarek said it’s possible wind speeds reached 135 miles per hour.
Milcarek said the Butler County area was not at risk of experiencing a tornado, and the region is not expected to be at risk of any severe weather events this coming week.
“It will be a lot more quiet,” he said. “By the latter end of next week we may be in that pattern again.”
