SOUTHLAND – (INT) – Some lucky Southern California sky watchers are being treated to a partial display of the northern lights.

And the solar storm isn't over yet with more auroras and space weather impacts lasting through the week.

Active areas of the sun blasted waves of charged particles, known as coronal mass ejections (CME), toward Earth this week. The result was a Severe (G4) Geomagnetic Storm, a rare level 4 out of 5 event on NOAA's Space Weather Prediction Center (SWPC) scale.

The solar storm sent waves of green, red and purple auroras across the night sky.

While northern lights are typically only seen near Earth's poles, a severe solar storm like this week's can trigger stronger, more widespread northern lights.

Photographers were able to see the northern lights with the naked eye as they became brighter in the night sky around 9 p.m. above the Santa Rosa Mountains of Riverside County and into the Joshua Tree National Park.

Story Date: November 16, 2025