Aurora Finds Its Way South To Iowa

A strong geomagnetic storm on Thursday, March 23, 2023 stimulated Aurora Borealis (The Northern Lights) throughout the state of Iowa and persisted into early the next morning. Spaceweather.com issued alerts to the probability well in advance of the event. In the Cedar Rapids metro area the question wasn't so much as to if it would occur, but would the sky be clear enough to witness it? Yes and no. The most intense period may have been around 10:45 pm CDT on March 23, as shown on the Aurora Alerts app image above, but skies in Cedar Rapids were mostly cloudy at that time. 

I was setting and resetting my cell phone alarm in hourly increments, starting about 9:00 pm, rising and going out on the back deck each time to observe the sky. Around midnight (March 24) the sky suddenly appeared mostly clear. I first photographed the north sky from nearby Bowman Woods Park (above), but this limited because of trees and too much light pollution. The aurora can be seen at lower left. Image captured at 12:17 am CDT, and is a 8 second exposure at f/2.8, ISO 1000 and 11mm focal length.

My next move was to get in my vehicle and move to the intersection of North Marion Road and White Road (42° 6'59.60"N,  91°35'58.00"W), a favorite dark sky vantage point north of the city of Marion, 1.5 miles north of County Home Road (E34). There the bright horizon aurora was immediately evident. Unfortunately, by this time the geomagnetic activity was in decline and dimming by the minute. The image above looks north from that location on North Marion Road at 12:40 am CDT. It is a 5 second exposure at f/2.8, ISO 2500, 11mm focal length.

Aurora alerts info for 12:43 am. Note the difference in intensity from this alert image to the one at top. 

Panorama image captured at 12:45 am. Image is a 5 second exposure at f/2.8, ISO 2500, 11mm focal length. Lingering clouds can be seen at right. Air temperature was 27 degrees F.

12:49 am. 4 second exposure at f/2.8, ISO 2500, 11mm focal length. I didn't get much sleep this night, but it was definitely worth it as this was the first aurora display I witnessed in the metro area since July 15, 2012. The (March 23-24) aurora event was classified as category "G4" (severe), and was witnessed as far south as New Mexico! Nikon D7200 DSLR camera.