Swiss skies too cloudy for spotting aurora borealis

The natural spectacle was photographed from the Austrian Vorderälpele, said Meteonews. Keystone-SDA

The aurora borealis, or northern lights, were visible on Sunday night near the border with Austria in northeastern Switzerland. The Swiss sky, however, was often too overcast to observe the phenomenon.

The natural spectacle was photographed from the Austrian Vorderälpele, said the Meteonews weather service on X on Monday. The latter published images of the Rhine valley with a glowing sky in the background.

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The aurora borealis were expected this weekend due to a strong geomagnetic solar storm. The phenomenon occurs when the sun expels large quantities of plasma into space.

+ Northern lights illuminate the Swiss night sky

The US weather agency NOAA (National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration) was expecting G3-category storms on Friday. The aurora borealis observed in Switzerland last May was triggered by a G5 storm, the highest category.

Translated from French with DeepL/gw

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