Northern lights put on spectacular display across British Columbia

Residents across B.C. and many parts of the world were treated to a light show on Thursday night.

The northern lights could be seen in many areas around Metro Vancouver, the Lower Mainland and the Interior and Northern B.C.

The light show was among a bounty of aurora borealis viewings seen this year. They are due to the sun’s magnetic field, which is at its peak of its 11-year cycle and putting out more solar storms, resulting in more frequent displays of northern lights.

According to the Stanford Solar Center, solar flares typically range from B — considered too small to harm Earth — up to X, which can trigger planet-wide radio blackouts and long-lasting radiation storms.

When these flares interact with the Earth, they cause geomagnetic storms which are then given a classification of G1 to G5 in terms of strength, with G1 seeing potential weak power grid fluctuations and a G5 having the potential to cause some grid systems to experience complete blackouts.

This storm was given a G3 classification.

— with files from Sean Previl