The rare phenomenon that lit up Wyoming's sky

[mahatmakanejeeves]

The person who took the pictures says that you can't see the aurora borealis in Wyoming. Well, I saw them when I was driving south from Yellowstone National Park toward Teton Village and into Idaho in September 1993.

The rare phenomenon that lit up Wyoming's sky

Jennifer Earl



[font size=1]David Bell’s photo of the light pillars in Pinesdale, Wyoming, went viral after it was posted early last week.

Wyoming Mountain Photography/David Bell[/font]

David Bell was watching the snow fall from his window on a crisp, 4-degree winter night when he spotted rainbow-colored lights peeking out of the fog. ... The photographer, who lives in the small town of Pinedale, Wyoming, which has about a 7,200-foot elevation, knew he was witnessing something special. He turned to wife and said, “I’m going outside.” ... Bell grabbed his camera gear, threw on a coat and set up a tripod in a foot of snow just outside of his house, which sits about 200 feet above town. He focused his camera on the sky. As the snow stopped, the colors became crystal clear.
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The rare natural phenomenon is most commonly seen when nearly flat, hexagonal-shaped ice crystals reflect city lights, according to Weather.com. These ice crystals are usually found in higher-level clouds when the air is very cold.

“We had a bigger snowstorm, lasted about 36 hours, and typically when those clear out we get a plunge in the temperature. As the temperature plunges it takes the remaining moisture in the air and it turns it into ice crystals,” said Bell, explaining that he’s studied light pillars over the years. “What creates light pillars is when those ice crystals form in a certain way and they have to be diagonally shaped.”

Over the course of several hours, Bell snapped photos of the beautiful lights and shared them on his Facebook page. One the photos he shared has been viewed more than 500,000 since it was posted last week. ...“One of my friends said to me, ‘We don’t get the aurora borealis in Wyoming, but this is just as good,’” Bell said. “It’s our version.”
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[font size=1]Scott DeBeaubien shares a photo of the light pillars from Jackson, Wyoming.

Scott DeBeaubien[/font]

[JayhawkSD]

1. The article does not refer to the Aurora Borealis

I think the Aorora can on rare occasions, very rare, be seen as far south as Wyoming, but if what you saw was as described in the article it was an atmospheric event and not the Aurora. The Aurora occurs far above the atmosphere and is caused by interaction between the Earth's magnetic field and the Solar wind.