By Haldimand Press staff
HALDIMAND—Residents across Haldimand County and around southern Ontario were in for quite the sight last week, as the famed northern lights, also known as aurora borealis, were briefly visible over parts of the county last Thursday night and leading into the early hours of Friday morning.
The phenomenon was captured by both casual admirers and photography enthusiasts around the county. Dunnville resident Carolyn Chymko was driving down Moulton Aikens Road when she noticed the lights, pulling over to take photos.
Photographer Ann Culp was prepared for the lights’ appearance, utilizing info gathered from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Association’s (NOAA) 30-minute forecast for predicting the possibility of the lights’ visibility.
According to NOAA’s website, their short-term forecasts are adept at predicting both the location and the intensity with which the northern lights will appear.
DUNNVILLE—Dunnville resident Carolyn Chymko couldn’t believe her eyes as she drove down Moulton Aikens Road last week, pulling over in order to snap photos of the aurora borealis, visible in the night sky over Haldimand and across North America, the result of a severe geomagnetic storm.
—Photo courtesy of Carolyn Chymko.
“There is no set time. It’s not like the sun and moon times,” said Culp in a post to her social media about her photos. “I use an app on my iPhone, AuroraNow, which can help give an idea of time.”
This allowed Culp to be set up and ready to capture the phenomenon as it occurred, capturing a series of photos with a 20-second exposure, which allows for photos with more in-depth colours.
“I could not see all the colours with my naked eye. It was there but faint,” said Culp.
According to the website spaceweather.com, the appearance of the lights was due to a severe geomagnetic storm. In addition to dazzling night-sky watchers in southern Ontario, the storm is credited with sightings across Ontario and Canada, and further south into the United States, including North Carolina, Colorado, and even Florida.
