Photos: Aurora Borealis Show Hits a High Note Above Oregon

Published 07/04/26 at 6:55 p.m.
By Oregon Coast Beach Connection Staff

(Salem, Oregon) – It was the northern lights that really wasn't supposed to be – at least for Oregon.

Photo above: Salem's Jeremy Marchand snagged this impressive shot. He sent off one earlier in the evening and then came back with this shot: “It certainly got better there for awhile.”

Northern tier states were probably going to get plenty of aurora action. The forecasts from the Space Weather Prediction Center (SWPC) in Colorado showed a relatively minor to moderate storm smacking the Earth, but the bulk of it was going to be below anything you could capture even with most cameras south of the Canadian border. The strongest point of a Kp 5 or so was happening before dusk. Then after 10 p.m., it was going to be 4.7 or so, then dropping off considerably after that.

Linda Marie got this shot from Florence

Even the edges of the storm were expected to only get halfway into Washington, which meant folks up there would get some good chances. But the viewline was likely going to be too weak to see down into Oregon.

You can see some auorora forecasts for Oregon and Washington here.

Gleefully, these were wrong. Even Portland down through Eugene snagged a fairly strong showing. Oregon Coast Beach Connection readers chimed in with a host of amazing photos. July 3 came with some special solar fireworks, courtesy the space version of Mother Nature.

One of the things that's extraordinarily fun about these is that you can tell it's the same northern lights event. Areas quite a ways from each other show the same configuration.

One KOIN-TV's sky cams got great video of it over downtown Portland.

Down on the central Oregon coast, Linda Marie snapped this one in Florence.

Many of these were taken between 11 p.m. and 12:30 a.m., which falls about where all the stuff was supposed to happen.

Initially, Portland astronomer Jim Todd told Oregon Coast Beach Connection a waning moon would wind up washing things out, something many other sky pundits were also saying in astronomy publications. Actually, very few thought Oregon would get anything at all.

“At Solstice, the auroras are not favorable for viewing,” Todd told Oregon Coast Beach Connection the day before, as we were collecting data on this event. “Bottom line, cameras would be best.”

Lisa Fisher caught this bright display in Sunriver.

The colors were intense, and the configuration was full of those white curtains.

These, according to EarthSky, happen because the particles bombarding Earth form up along individual magnetic field lines – a little like shaved metal bits glomming onto a magnet. These create those columns embedded in the giant, pink / purple glow we saw, instead of a big, diffuse glow, which is often how we see auroras down here.

“When activity starts to ramp up, you might see rays – or vertical streaks – shooting upward into the sky,” EarthSky said. “You can have a single ray projecting upward from an otherwise diffuse glow, or you can have a sky filled with rays. The rays can converge overhead to create an auroral corona”

Marchand's first shot in Salem: this was just the beginning of a greater display

The color here is indicative of some cool things too. These depend on the type of gas that's excited.

“Oxygen excited to different energy levels can produce green and red,” said NASA. “Green occurs roughly between 60 to 120 miles (100-200 km) altitude, and red occurs above 120 miles (200 km).”

The reds mean it's a very intense storm, as up that high that are far fewer gasses to interact with.

There was another large solar flare and some other activity on the sun a couple of days ago, which will hit the atmosphere on July 5. However, it seems this will be at its strongest during the day and isn't likely to make for a good show.

Todd hinted at the possibility there could be a little more tonight (Saturday), so it's worth taking a quick look and watching sites like the NOAA's Space Weather and Solar Ham.

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