Some amazing Northern Lights pix from last night, posted by the EMS Service at La Ronge Saskatchewan.
I’d read that more intense solar activity than usual was expected this year, and with the polar vortex and the deep freeze we’re in, clear skies that make the Lights all that better.
If you scroll down on the Twitter post, there’s also a good shot of ice fog on the Saskatchewan River at Saskatoon, when it’s -39 C.
Paging @penultima_thule 
I live in Canada. I put up with the winter cold. Yet I have never – not ever in my life – seen northern lights. Not even when they’re supposed to be so intense that they allegedly can seen as far south as Savannah, Georgia, or someplace like that. I’m convinced there’s no such thing, and all those pictures are done with Photoshop.
The best display I’ve ever seen was on a cold winter night in Regina, when I was at a movie and went straight out the exit to the outdoors from the theatre.
My eyes were acclimatized to the dark, and there were these huge dancing sheets of pink northern lights all across the sky.
So you say. You’re probably one of the Photoshop fakers! 
OK, I’m just jealous. I wish I could see northern lights sometime, at least once. I suppose the other side of the coin is that I live in a southern nook of the country where temperatures are somewhat more moderate. I can take the garbage out in the winter in my dressing gown without fear of being flash-frozen!
And I need not remind you of my famous “The gentleman from Toronto is here” story where I nearly died in Saskatchewan walking one block from my hotel to a business meeting protected by nothing more than a mere Toronto overcoat! There was some debate as to whether to conduct me in to the meeting or to call an ambulance.
Somebody sure photoshopped the heck out of the sky one night when I was in Scotland.
Didn’t quite get to that temp here on Sunday, was rather pleasantly warm in the shade. Next weekend is forecast to be above 40C … wait … your number has a fucking minus sign in front of it. Gazooks! 
Bugger that. The office air conditioning is running a bit hard today @ 21C and I’ve got a fleecy top on. 
I’ve seen them a handful of times in Wisconsin – nothing as vibrant as those pictures, but very clearly an auroral display.
So envious!
I’ve never seen them. One of the things left on my “Bucket list.”
Ditto. I don’t have much of a Bucket List, really, but seeing the Northern Lights in person with my own eyes is definitely tops.
Someday, I’ll go to Iceland and get the full view. I did see some minor Northern Lights display in Scotland all those years ago on my honeymoon.
Mine too, although unlike an eclipse, we can’t predict when or where they will occur, although a solar storm often means they’ll be more powerful and visible farther south (or north, in the southern hemisphere).
Where I live (Midwest), if they’re visible, it’s usually a vague green glow above the northern horizon, and only visible away in the country, away from artificial light.
Oh hey I got some of those! Went for a little 8km walk yesterday at -31. The South Saskatchewan does not freeze over in Saskatoon, as there’s a power plant just on the upstream edge of the city that uses the river for cooling. When it gets truly cold, steam rises off of the open water. Some brave geese have decided to overwinter in the city, and I posted this to the Saskatoon subreddit with the caption “Canada geese regretting their decision to abide by Covid travel advisories.”
I’m not sure, but I don’t think temperature has much to do with whether the Northern Lights are visible. But they can be seen on rare occasions from southern Ontario–I saw them twice from there; once in spring and once in fall. They weren’t quite as spectacular as in the photo that Northern Piper posted, and were rather faint, but they were definitely the Northern Lights.
What really made the difference was that both times, I was out in the country (think back roads of York Region), with little to no light pollution. You’d never be able to see them if you were in a town or city.
Of course, the further north you go, the easier they are to see, even with some light pollution; and they are more interesting. I’ve watched them from a park in Calgary, and from a park in Edmonton.
The only time you are going to see them south of say, Denver, is if we get hit with a good-sized CME.
So, they are mostly a “Northern thing” (hence the name), and since it needs to be dark to see them, that implies late Autumn to early Spring (otherwise, it’s not dark enough, or not enough hours of darkness). Which means it’s likely to be cold.
Best Northern Lights display I’ve ever seen was home on the farm NE of Saskatoon. It was an August in the late 80’s, I think, probably around midnight. Northern Lights are reasonably common out here, but usually it’s just a few streaks that lazily slide around low in the northern sky. That night it was a huge band of dancing lights stretched all the way across the sky. They moved higher and higher, and eventually the sky to the north went dark while the aurora still danced directly overhead. It was as if spaceship Earth were flying out of a luminescent cloud into the northern darkness. I’ve never seen anything remotely comparable before or since.
My gf went to Iceland a few years ago, during the week they had the Northern Lights shut down. She’s talking about doing a return visit once she’s vaccinated
Story in the local paper gives a bit more background:
Canada is a big country. If you live in a large city in southern Ontario or Quebec, you’d never see them.
I took a vacation in Canada one summer, and was really looking forward to seeing the Aurora. I neglected to consider how late the sun sets in the summer. I don’t think it got fully dark until around 2 a.m. where I was. I never managed to stay up late enough to see the night sky in the whole vacation.