NJ skies light up this week with nature’s colorful light show

⭕ Two incoming solar storms pushed the Northern Lights further south

⭕ They were visible early Monday and Tuesday

⭕ 2nd chance to see them this week

Mother Nature gave New Jersey a rare statewide light show in the form of Northern Lights early Sunday and Monday with an encore is on the way early Thursday.

Also known as the aurora borealis, it's the colorful glow or light produced when electrons from space flow down Earth’s magnetic field and collide with atoms and molecules of the upper atmosphere in a ring or oval centered on the magnetic pole of Earth, according to the Space Weather Prediction Center.

It's not a common site for most of the United States but all of New Jersey was treated to them in the early hours of Tuesday.

NOAA's Space Weather Prediction Center issued a G3 (strong) geomagnetic storm warning for early Monday and Tuesday because of two incoming solar storms, which pushed the northern lights farther south into the northern U.S. A watch is in effect for Thursday and Friday morning.

ALSO READ: Suspicious Tesla leads to evacuation of American Dream

Visible all over the state

Posts on the New Jersey Astronomy Group on Facebook reported them being visible in Barnegat, Bedminster, Cape May May Point, Denville, Lake Aeroflex in Sussex County, Manahawkin, Manaquan, Monroe (Middlesex), Ringwood, Spotswood, and an unspecified location in Hunterdon County.

Drina Duryea captured images in the Port Murray section of Mansfield in Warren County.

"This has been a bucket list item for me for years and I just got married on October 5th so it could not have been a more magical way to round out my weekend," Duryea told New Jersey 101.5.

A woman who posted pictures of the lights she saw from the campus of The College of New Jersey in Ewing Township on the Northern Lights Watch Facebook page was equally as happy.

"I finally saw the ever elusive Northern Lights last night!!!!!!" she wrote.

New Jersey 101.5 Chief Meteorologist Dan Zarrow said the clouds should stay away in the early hours of Thursday and Friday. It will also be a cold night to be outside with temperatures dipping into the 40s.

"Friday morning is the one we are eyeballing for the first frost of the year. Probably just for the coldest corners of the state — northwestern New Jersey and the Pine Barrens. Other rural and suburban areas of inland New Jersey will be close to the 30s," Zarrow said.

Do you have a picture of the northern lights to share? Email if to dan.alexander@townsquaremedia.com or send it via our free app.

Report a correction 👈 | 👉 Contact our newsroom