Early-risers across much of southern Australia have flooded social media with spectacular pictures of the brilliant colours of the Aurora Australis.
Monday’s display, which was widespread across Tasmania and reported as far north as central NSW, South Australia and Western Australia, was due to a severe geomagnetic storm.
What’s more, a similar display of green and pink waves of light is also possible early on Tuesday, according to weather forecasters – meaning anyone who missed out on Monday still has a chance to witness the phenomenon.
In Tasmania, Huon Valley photographer Toby Schrapel said he and his son were camping when they saw the rare event on Monday.
“We could see full colour to the naked eye – not quite like what the camera sees, but it was the most colour [I’ve] ever seen,” he told News.com.au.
“Harlan then told me ‘This is so special to see the magic sky colours with you daddy’ – so I’m never forgetting this one,” he said.
Monday’s spectacular display was visible in some parts of Tasmania as early as 3.30am, and grew as the night wore on.
While a known occurrence in southern Tasmania, the aurora is less common in other states. On Monday, residents of towns such as Mirboo North in Gippsland, Warrnambool in south-west Victoria, and Napoleons near Ballarat have shared impressive photos of the phenomenon.
Shane Laidlaw left his home at Napoleons, in central Victoria, about 5am on Monday.
“All of a sudden, it just went boom … you could actually see it with the naked eye, which isn’t common,” he told the ABC.
“The phone photos brought out the colours so much more.
“I woke up my wife and she said it could be an aurora and went back in and woke up my son.”
Tweet from @scanSydney
In an especially rare event, aurora sightings were also reported from Dubbo and Wagga Wagga in NSW and Kalgoorlie in WA.
The light show came after the weather bureau released an alert on Sunday notifying of conditions conducive to visible auroras.
Meteorologist Luke Johnston said clear conditions were expected early on Tuesday as well, particularly in southern Tasmania.
“We may start to get some high-level cloud drifting over on Tuesday, but it doesn’t look too terrible,” he said.
Forecaster Weatherzone said the vivid display was triggered by a severe geomagnetic storm that reached level four on a five-tiered G-scale used by the Australian Space Weather Alert System.
“These G4 events occur roughly 20 times during each 11-year solar cycle,” it said.
“They are severe geomagnetic storms that can affect power grids, satellites, communication networks and aircraft navigation. They are also known to trigger the Aurora Australis (southern lights) and aurora borealis (northern lights) in unusually low latitudes.”
See the latest reports from the Bureau of Meteorology’s space weather service here.
