Manitoba’s sky came to life with ‘most impressive’ Northern Lights show in years, Thursday night

It was a show that saw many Manitobans looking up.

The night sky above Manitoba came alive with a dazzling display of northern lights on Thursday and long-time community members say the skybound show was one of the brightest in recent memory.

“Absolutely, this is by-far the best show the community has seen so far,” said Justin Anderson, owner of High Hopes Aurora and the 50,000+-member strong Manitoba Aurora and Astronomy Facebook page.

People’s social media feeds across the province were abuzz with postings of the natural phenomenon, which according to the Canadian Space Agency, occurs when charged particles like electrons and protons collide with gases in Earth’s upper atmosphere.

“Well on tonight’s episode of holy crap!!!!” exclaimed Jenn Sutherland, Anderson’s partner, on film as she captured some of the space-bound show on film over Brandon, Man.

“It’s so bright,” she can be heard saying in the video.

Anderson says it’s showings like Thursday’s that help ensure the community continues to grow.

“50,000 people might have seen the aurora in Manitoba last night,” said Anderson. “Even if 100 of those people or 10 of those people get addicted like I did, six or seven years ago, it’s a victory in my mind.”

He said there have been big showings of the Northern Light in Manitoba in the past, the last big one in 2021, but he says last night’s showing even surpassed that.

“I would put this as the best show of the Manitoba Aurora and Astronomy Community so far,” he said.

“Just because it was visible across the whole province – except for Churchill – which is where I’m at right now, of course, we were clouded over, but the whole community got to amazing auroras, crystal clear skies. Downtown Winnipeg was seeing fantastic aurora!”

Anderson stressed the dozens and dozens of photos online are also more important than just sky candy.

“It’s very helpful for scientists to help study the aurora — to know what’s happening and to know what’s going to happen next as well,” he said.

The aurora is expected to be visible on Friday as well, as AuroraForecast.com is showing a forecast ranging from 10 on Friday to seven over the weekend.

Manitobans react on social media