My First G3 Storm

Camera: Nikon D800, Lens: Nikon 14-24mm f/2.8

Settings: 10 seconds, f/3.2, ISO 1600

Sometimes capturing a great image takes a little luck. This was one of those times.

Before this night, I had photographed the Northern Lights during very faint displays—sometimes so faint they weren’t even visible to the naked eye. I had only begun learning about auroras and how to photograph them in 2015, and with every outing, my excitement grew.

On Mother’s Day in 2016, at approximately 5:00 PM, I traveled to the Minnesota North Shore—a scenic 154-mile stretch along Lake Superior from Duluth to Grand Portage—to photograph the Milky Way. I was joined by fellow landscape photographer and Four Elements Photo Adventures instructor, Dave Miess. We packed up and began the six-hour drive to Split Rock Lighthouse State Park, just outside the town of Silver Bay.

At the time, although I was very interested in the Northern Lights, I didn’t regularly follow aurora alerts. They also weren’t widely broadcast in the media the way they are today.

Once there, we set up our gear to photograph the night sky. Some clouds lingered, partially blocking our view of the Milky Way’s core. We also noticed a faint green glow in the sky, which we initially assumed was airglow. Airglow occurs when atoms and molecules in the upper atmosphere, energized by sunlight, release light as they shed excess energy. While it resembles auroras, airglow is caused by everyday solar radiation, whereas auroras are driven by high-energy particles from the solar wind.

After about 45 minutes of shooting and waiting for the clouds to clear, everything changed—the Northern Lights suddenly intensified.

Camera: Nikon D800, Lens: Nikon 14-24mm f/2.8

Settings: 13 seconds, f/2.8, ISO 1600

We were witnessing a G3-class geomagnetic storm. On a scale from G1 (minor) to G5 (extreme), a G3 storm is considered strong. It occurs when there is a major disturbance in Earth’s magnetosphere, allowing an efficient transfer of energy from the solar wind into Earth’s space environment. This particular storm was powerful enough to make the aurora visible even in some southern states.

Camera: Nikon D800, Lens: Nikon 14-24mm f/2.8

Settings: 10 seconds, f/3.2, ISO 1600

After hours of photographing, the aurora display ended at around 4:00 a.m. We were in awe—completely mesmerized by the show—and thrilled with the images we had captured.

What began as a plan to photograph the Milky Way turned into an unforgettable night under a spectacular light show. For 8 years it was known as the "Mother's Day Solar Storm" until 2024, when Mother Nature gave us a G5 storm on...Mother's Day.