TOLEDO, Ohio -
Two unexpected bursts of color showed up in the sky overnight Monday into early Tuesday morning. Around 11:30pm to midnight on Monday, October 8th a weak solar storm got a burst of activity. It produced the northern lights that were visible from northern Ohio into Michigan and Indiana. The solar storm started to fade after midnight. The sun is ramping up in solar activity and more opportunities to see the aurora are expected in the months to come.
The other unexpected show in the sky was an outburst of meteors from the Draconid meteor shower. According to the Canadian Meteor Orbit Radar, more than 1,000 meteors per hour occurred for a short period of time. Both the solar storm and meteor shower are coming to an end.
The picture in this article was from a powerful solar storm on November 7, 2004 when the northern lights covered most of the sky in our area.