What the New Jersey northern lights actually looked like vs the viral photo

A video highlighting the stark disconnect between the expected view and actual visibility of the northern lights in New Jersey earlier this month has received a storm of sympathy from users on TikTok.

The video was posted by a user called @nurse.dezzy and has gained over 280,000 views since it was shared on October 11.

A note overlaid on the clip says: “The photo that everyone is posting vs. what the northern lights actually looked like in NJ [New Jersey] tonight.”

The clip shows a person in a car holding up a vibrant photo of the northern lights, contrasting it against a dark, uneventful New Jersey sky outside the car window.

Residents in New Jersey as well New York were treated to a rare viewing of the northern lights earlier this month after the Space Weather Prediction Center (SWPC) of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) shared a post on X, formerly Twitter, for a geomagnetic storm watch for October 10 to 11.

“A CME [coronal mass ejection] will quite likely arrive at Earth and lead to highly elevated geomagnetic activity,” the SWPC said at the time.

A CME is a solar event that sees “a billion tons of plasma ejected from the sun, traveling at a million miles per hour,” explains the NOAA.

“When a CME arrives at Earth, it can produce some of the biggest geomagnetic storms and thus, some of the brightest and most active auroras that extend furthest toward the equator,” notes the NOAA.

The viral post comes in a year when northern lights chasers might be able to catch a glimpse of the natural light display from areas of the world where they’re normally not seen.

Scientists have said 2024 may see the strongest northern lights activity in the past 20 years as well as the decade to come due to high solar activity, which was projected to peak between January and October this year, the NOAA said.

The TikTok post struck a chord with several viewers, including many who experienced similar disappointments.

User @leah189546 commented: “Thank you for posting this because I felt like I was losing my mind.” Another user, @laynarachel, added “People near me are posting, and I’m like where is it?!”

Alex W Young said: “Yes. I saw all these great photos at like 10pm when I finally drove home from my show at like 2am I barely got anything on camera.”

Nicole said: “I’m also in New Jersey and my pictures look exactly the same” and Nikki wrote “I have a video showing the same.”

D.Dentz Motivation said: “I went out… I haven’t seen anything.”

Newsweek has contacted the original poster for comment via TikTok. This video has not been independently verified.

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