Northern lights came too early for Spokane viewers

A burst of aurora borealis on Sunday came too early in the evening to be easily seen in the Spokane region.

A photographer in Davenport, Washington, captured images of the northern lights from a farm road.

But the burst of charged particles from the sun had started to subside about the time the sun set, said Bryce Williams, a meteorologist with the National Weather Service in Spokane.

Also, a deck of high cirrus clouds obstructed views of the light show, which is an interaction between Earth’s magnetic field and the solar particles.

Even under good viewing conditions, the Northern Lights are hard to see in areas where outdoor lighting has diminished a dark sky.