An unusually intense burst of solar activity triggered an impressive auroral display that extended south beyond the U.S. border. One indicator of a geomagnetic storm’s intensity is the K-index, which runs from 0 to 9, with 9 being the most intense. Normally for aurora to be visible in southern Canada, the K-index needs to be 5 to 7. On Monday night, the K-index peaked at 8. (You can visit our Aurora Watch page to check on the current level of auroral activity.)

Photographing the sky from southern Alberta, SkyNews associate editor Alan Dyer recorded a series of images to make the video seen here. “I shot 2200 frames over about 2 hours for this sequence. I started about 11:15 p.m. MDT in the bright twilight and ended about 1:15 a.m., by which time the display had faded to a widespread but diffuse glow,” Alan reports.

You can see more of Alan Dyer’s spectacular images at his web site.