Our house is very nearly oriented to the compass. The front door of the house faces south and the back door faces north. Our neighborhood is fairly tight, with the houses pretty close together. As a result, we don’t have a view of much to the north other than the houses of our neighbors. However, on a clear day we can see mountains in Canada from our bedroom window.

The key phrase there is “on a clear day.” We live in a coastal area, with a fair amount of low-lying clouds and fog on many days. Last night, for example, there were rain showers all around and even though it was clear where we were, looking to the north what we saw was mostly clouds.

There is another phenomenon that is a part of where we live. About 35 miles to the north lies the 3rd largest city in Canada, Vancouver, British Columbia, with over 2.6 million people in its metro area. That means that there is a lot of light pollution to our immediate north. When the clouds are low, the lights of the city reflect and there is often a glow in the sky that makes it more difficult to see the stars than was the case in other places where we have lived. When it is clear, the light pollution extends up into the sky even higher and I can barely make out the stars of the two dippers.

That means that our house is a fairly poor place from which to view the Northern Lights. The last few nights have offered a dazzling display of the Lights all across North America. Reports of pink, purple and green streaking across the sky have been recognized as far south as California and Arizona. Our friends in Western South Dakota have posted some beautiful pictures of the aurora.

The event was categorized as a “severe geomagnetic storm” and received the second highest rating in strength, a G4. The strongest would be a G5. A less severe storm continues this weekend. Bill Murtagh, program coordinator at the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Space Weather and Prediction Center told the BBC, “We got more of an impact than we expected.”

The Internet is full of dazzling photos of the phenomena. Several eruptions on the sun released high energy particles that collided with the Earth’s atmosphere. When these clouds of particles and magnetic fields from the sun encounter the earth’s magnetic fields, the particles interact with the earth’s upper atmosphere and the lights are the result. I saw pictures taken from Phoenix and Spokane. The lights were visible in Los Angeles.

So far, we haven’t seen anything. Neighbors to the east have reported some brilliant displays, however. I suppose that we ought to get in the car in the middle of the night and head out to see what we can see, but it is hard to get motivated to leave the warmth of our house in the middle of the night.

We are currently approaching a point in the solar cycle where more eruptions on the sun will occur. Scientists call this place in that cycle solar maximum. So far it has been aurora minimum here along birch bay on the coast.

I have fond memories of watching the Northern Lights while riding in the car after dark. One evening when we were children, I was mesmerized by the lights as we drove south from my uncle’s farm heading toward home. It was very dark as winter nights can be, but the sky was clear and the stars were stunning out the back window of my parents’ car. I was watching the stars when I first notices the beginnings of a display. Green lights streaked through the sky, growing more and more intense. My father could see the lights in the rear view mirror of the car and commented on them. Later, when I had become an adult, the lights were a much appreciated sight as I drove home from meetings in North Dakota. I learned to look carefully northward whenever driving on winter nights, just in case I might see them. On several occasions, I was granted the treat of the beautiful sight. I know from those experiences that the lights can extend upward high into the sky, so the houses near ours and even low lying clouds to the North should not be blocking the lights. I think that the bigger problem is all the light from such a large city.

I plan to keep checking each evening, however. The coming years are forecast to see even more intense solar activity. Chances of seeing the lights, especially in a northern location right next to the Canadian border, should be very good. More frequent high level solar storms are on the way. I know what I’m looking to see. Patience may be part of the key, but I suspect that heading east to a place that is a little more remote might be the ticket. A short drive should be all that it takes. Just north of us is an almost straight east-west highway that goes for quite a while straight toward the Cascade Mountains. I suspect that it would be a good place from which to see the lights. The promise of a display should be enough to lure me from the comfort of home one evening.

Not last night, however. It is Sunday morning, and I have responsibilities at church today. Even though this should, in theory, be a good time to take a peek, sky watching will have to wait for another night when I have fewer responsibilities the next morning. After all, part of the joy of watching the Northern Lights is the surprise of seeing something you didn’t expect to see. There is no guarantee that you’ll be at the right place at the right time to see the display. We’ve gotten so used to looking at pictures on the Internet, we’ve lost that sense of surprise and awe.

The awe, however, is the reason to look to the skies. The surprise will come in its own time.