Like our adventure to see the total solar eclipse (You can read about that here.), this last-minute adventure was dependent on good weather. Another similarity is that we had several potential final destinations. What was different this time, was that it was our idea to head out on this adventure.
On Friday (May 10th), my wife heard that there was a major solar storm in progress that would likely result in the most brilliant northern lights display in 20 years. It would begin at sundown and last until the wee morning hours of the next day. Here’s a picture of the NOAA Space Weather Prediction Center forecast as of 23;41 UTC on Friday which was 5:41 PM CST. It meant that an extraordinary display of northern lights was heading our way.
We just needed to find some clear skies in order to see it. NOAA rated the solar storm as an extreme G5 on a scale of G1-G5. The last time this happened was 20 years ago, making this another must-see celestial event.
My daughter’s home is a 3 1/2 hour drive from two excellent viewing sites. Both of them are north of Duluth, MN. The first location was “somewhere” on the North Shore of Lake Superior near Two Harbors or maybe one of the state parks that dot the North Shore. The second location was one of two waysides on the sparsely populated South Shore of Lake Superior. We decided to head out after dinner towards Duluth keeping an eye on cloud cover. When we got to Duluth, we would decide North or South shore.
On our drive north out of the Twin Cities, we enjoyed a beautiful sunset followed by darkening skies. Our excitement grew when we started seeing northern lights along the highway! The following picture was taken with Evan’s smartphone which has a real nice camera. The rest of the photos in this newsletter were also taken with Evan’s phone.
As we approached the halfway point between the Twin Cities and Duluth, the light show got so intense that we decided to stop at a wayside to get a better look. To our surprise, a beautiful display of northern lights was unfolding directly over the parking lot. It looked like an exploded firework that was slowly spreading out in all directions. We took a couple of pictures and headed on our way. We couldn’t wait to get to our yet to be determined destination. A little later, we decided that it would be “somewhere” on the North Shore of the lake.
A short drive up the freeway, we encountered a wet highway, followed by some light rain. When we got close to Two Harbors, we encountered a considerable amount of traffic heading in the opposite direction. I was thinking that they probably gave up and and were heading back home. Or, maybe they just didn’t want stay up till the middle of the night hoping that the sky would clear up.
It was only 11:00 PM. The forecast was for the skies to clear up after midnight, so we continued on. But where to stop? We decided to pass on Two Harbors. After a little discussion, we picked Split Rock Lighthouse State Park, which was just up the road, as our final destination.
Because of the late hour, much of the park was closed when we arrived. I was worried that we might not find a place to park. My worries were unfounded as we were able to find a space in a parking lot near a trail that lead to the lakeshore. It was 11:30 PM with clouds in the sky. I was thinking that if the skies were clear, the parking lot would have been full.
Evan and my wife decided to take the trail to the lakeshore and check things out. Because of the partly cloudy conditions, the Northern Lights were visible but not spectacular. When they returned to the parking lot, we visited with a photographer from Rochester, MN who said he got some pretty good photos just at sunset but not too much after that.
What to do? It was pretty close to midnight. It could still clear up. We all decided to take the trail out to the lakeshore for another look. When we got to the lakeshore it was still somewhat cloudy but it did look like it might still clear up. We spent some time chatting with our fellow adventurers and taking some photos. They weren’t spectacular but they were ok.
It wasn’t long before the sky was mostly clear. The light show slowly got better and better. Streaks from the south. You got that right—we wondered if we went too far north. Here’s one of the pictures looking south.
Next there were some beautiful streaks to the east. The light show wasn’t spectacular but much improved. Then “out of the blue” a splash of colorful lights slowly spread out directly overhead. It was truly spectacular. Pictures don’t do it justice, but here’s one.
We were tempted to stay all night, but we had a 3 1/2 hour drive ahead of us to get back home. So, we left at about 2:30 AM. Evan got this amazing photo of the Split Rock Lighthouse illuminated by the northern lights just before we left.
We were treated to a continuing display of Northern Lights most of the way back to my daughter’s home.
So, after 10 hours and 400 miles, our adventure came to an end. It was 6:00 AM when we arrived back to my daughter’s home. We were pretty tired but feeling grateful that the skies cleared in time for us to view the magnificent celestial event in such an exquisite location.
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