Spectacular Early Aurora Borealis Displays Surprise Mid-Latitude Skywatchers

August 31, 2025 | 22:00 UTC Skywatchers across North America and Europe were treated to an unexpected celestial show tonight as an early disturbance from a powerful solar eruption ignited vivid aurora borealis displays far south of their usual arctic haunts.

The U.S. National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s Space Weather Prediction Center (SWPC) upgraded its geomagnetic watch to G2 (Moderate) for the evening of August 31 and G3 (Strong) for September 1-2 following a long-duration M2.7 solar flare on August 30 that hurled an Earth-directed coronal mass ejection (CME) into interplanetary space. In a rare “cannibal CME” scenario, a faster secondary eruption appears to have overtaken an earlier blast, sending a preliminary shock wave that triggered auroral activity as early as tonight.

Early reports from Minnesota, Michigan, and Wisconsin describe diffuse green glows and faint pillars dancing on the northern horizon shortly after local midnight. Amateur photographers in Maine and New York captured brilliant corona-like bursts overhead, while residents of Germany and southern England reported seeing a faint red-green arc low in the northern sky. Social media feeds brimmed with images of neon-green curtains rippling above silhouetted forests, highway overpasses, and city skylines.

Observers in the Upper Midwest noted the display began around 03:00 UTC (23:00 EDT) and persisted intermittently for two hours. “I saw a sudden emerald surge overhead, then it dimmed and flared again,” said one skywatcher near Duluth, Minnesota. Similar unanticipated flickers were reported from southern Manitoba and the Scottish Highlands after 02:30 UTC.

This early activity served as a prelude to the main storm expected after the full-halo CME’s impact on September 1 around 18:00 UTC, when SWPC forecasts Kp = 7-8 conditions. During that period, auroras could cascade as far south as Illinois, Oregon, and northern Virginia in the U.S., and dip into mid-latitude Europe, including Poland and Wales.

Aurora enthusiasts are urged to watch again tomorrow night between 22:00 UTC and 04:00 UTC, when the combined CME onslaught is predicted to deliver the strongest geomagnetic disturbance of the current solar cycle. Clear, dark skies away from city lights will offer the best vantage-and patience may reward viewers with one of the most expansive northern lights shows seen in recent years.