03/25/2023
ROCKIN' SKY
Full-sky auroras spread their wings over Pioneer Peak in the Chugach Range south of Palmer, Alaska on March 24, 2023 around 3 am. A glancing blow from a sun-hurled CME (Coronal Mass Ejection) coupled with a massive solar Coronal Hole spewing charged particles at Earth created the perfect geomagnetic storm. This aurora display was so widespread it appears to have surpassed even optimistic forecasts. Gotta love those kinds of surprises!
THE EXPERIENCE
This big aurora event kicked in over Europe while it was still daylight in North America, so we did have some forewarning. In the middle of our Anchorage daytime afternoon, I looked at the data and hollered to my wife, “We’re red-barring!” That’s our term for when the Kp Index, the aurora monitoring scale, goes through the roof. As the sun shone through my office window I thought, Dang, it hit too soon for Alaska… we still had 7 hours until it would get dark enough to see them! I hoped & prayed the show would continue. When evening twilight finally settled in, I was relieved to see the auroras were still active. As I finished packing my camper to head out, I tucked my wife into bed and asked her, “Where should I go, north or south?” She replied, “It doesn’t matter, just have fun.” Thank you, beautiful Shay, you always give the best advice!
I flipped a mental coin and chose to zoom northward up the Glenn Highway toward Palmer, about the only place that had a cloud symbol on my weather app. As I entered the clouds, and the auroras started to heat up, I thought to myself, what was I thinking?!?! No one in their left mind (left for logical) would have chosen this path, but my right brain (right for, um, righteous & creative!) had taken control. I had a vision for auroras over Pioneer Peak, clouds or no clouds. By some miracle, the clouds parted, and I enjoyed an absolutely stellar solitary experience under a big canopy of mesmerizing auroras.
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