The aurora borealis, also known as the northern lights, stunned much of the region Tuesday evening with a colorful display that stretched across the Southwest Colorado sky.
The Space Weather Prediction Center said part two of the breathtaking show is possible tonight, but cloudy skies could make viewing more difficult across La Plata County, according to the National Weather Service.
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Though the northern lights are most common over locations closer to the North Pole, this week’s display was visible as far south as Florida, according to NPR. Parts of Canada and Britain were also able to view the dazzling colors.
The northern lights are caused by solar wind – a stream of charged particles continuously released from the Sun – colliding with gases in Earth’s upper atmosphere, according to the National Aeronautics and Space Administration. These collisions cause the atmospheric gases to become “excited” and release photons, which appear as light.
Different gases produce the different colors seen: nitrogen produces blue and purple hues, while oxygen creates green and red.
According to Shawn Dahl, a space weather service coordinator at the Space Weather Prediction Center in Boulder, two especially intense coronal mass ejections, or CMEs, occurred this week, causing a geomagnetic storm, which created the especially bright and expansive show Tuesday.
CME’s are large, sudden expulsions of plasma and magnetic fields from the Sun, which contribute to making the northern lights visible.
Dahl discussed the phenomenon in a video posted on X Tuesday.
A recorded update about the current geomagnetic storm on-going at this time and what we anticipate yet to come - from the Nation's official source of space weather information and updates. pic.twitter.com/kWTceUq3Uo
— NOAA Space Weather Prediction Center (@NWSSWPC) November 12, 2025
According to Dahl, a third CME is projected to occur tonight.
Dahl said the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s geomagnetic storm scale labeled the current geomagnetic storm watch at G4 – the second most intense type on the scale, just behind G5.
In a video posted early today, Dahl said the CME activity seen so far has clocked in at eight times more than normal and was looking favorable for continued northern light activity into Wednesday evening.
Kris Sanders, a meteorologist with the National Weather Service’s southwestern office, said cloud cover is expected this evening in Durango.
The best chances to catch more northern light activity tonight were expected to be just after sunset, or after midnight into the dawn hours, Sanders said. The heaviest cloud cover was expected to occur between 8 p.m. and midnight.
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