MAMMOTH LAKES, Calif. (KSEE/KGPE) – The array of nighttime colors that is the northern lights are expected to be in the skies for a second time on Monday following a dazzling array above Mammoth Lakes on Sunday.

Pictures shared to YourCentralValley.com by photographer Carter Murphy show the ordinarily dark night sky lit up with purple and blue hues with streaks of light interspersed creating an utterly unique image.

Northern lights light up the night sky on Sunday above Mammoth Lakes (image courtesy of Carter Murphy)
Northern lights light up the night sky on Sunday above Mammoth Lakes (image courtesy of Carter Murphy)

The dazzling display is thanks to a severe geomagnetic storm that erupted Friday. The effects of the storm were so strong Sunday night, that the aurora was possibly “visible as far south as Alabama and northern California,” the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration said.

The storm was caused by a coronal mass ejections, or CME. CMEs are explosions of plasma and magnetic material from the Sun that can reach Earth in as little as 15 to 18 hours, NOAA explains.

So where can you see the northern lights Monday evening?

The red line that cuts across the U.S. on the map below is the “view line,” which shows the southernmost points where the aurora is forecast to be seen. The agency updates its space weather predictions regularly on its site.

The northern lights are best observed away from city lights, which can drown out the aurora.

NOAA’s aurora viewline forecast, posted the evening of April 24 (Map: NOAA)

The strength of solar storm activity was expected to diminish further on Tuesday.

This is just the latest round of northern lights that have been visible across the northern U.S. this year. It’s all thanks to the sun flipping its magnetic poles, an activity it does over an 11-year period.

“We’re right in the middle of that transition right now, we’re approaching it. When we hit the middle we call it solar maximum. It’s when we have the most sunspots, it’s when we get the most solar flares and eruptions,” Bill Murtagh, the Program Coordinator for NOAA’s Space Weather Prediction Center, told Nexstar’s WROC.

CMEs are often seen during this process, which have contributed to recent auroras. CMEs can create currents in Earth’s magnetic fields that send particles to the North and South Poles. When those particles interact with oxygen and nitrogen, they can create auroras.

The stronger those CMEs are, Murtagh explains, the further south the northern lights are visible.

“If you missed the activity a couple of weeks, last week and a few weeks ago, just know that we are ramping up to the solar maximum – we’re expecting it to occur between 2024-25 so essentially stay tuned, there’s more to come,” said Murtagh.