Red Sky at Night Gives Me a Fright

The Northern Lights seen in eastern Colorado (Colorado Parks and Wildlife).

 This past week has seen the Northern Lights visible as far south as Texas Here in southern Colorado they were photographed in the San Luis Valley, at a latitude of 37° -- pretty far south,

I live surrounded by hills and ridges, with no view of a horizon anywhere except a hint to the northwest. On Wednesday, November 12,  maybe the peak night, I walked Marco the dog after dark and saw nothing but stars. The following night, M. and I drove out to a place with a good view to the east and north, slightly interrupted by the distant lights of Pueblo -- and saw no aurora. Apparently we should have been much farther east, in say Otero or Bent counties, to get the full effect.

But that's OK. I had my "red sky at night" experience back in the Reagan Era, and it was a Cold War Baby's meltdown.

M. and I had been married a short time and were living in a converted summer cottage in Manitou Springs (740 sq. ft.!). Manitou is in a canyon as well, on the western edge of Colorado Springs. It's where the real mineral springs are flowing; the "Springs" in "Colorado Springs" is just real estate developer slop, circa 1875.

I had walked to a friend's house on Ruxton Avenue -- that is the side canyon that goes up to the Pikes Peak Cog Railway station.  I came out well after dark, and the sky to the north was red!

I knew what it meant: Soviet missiles had hit Denver, and more were coming to Colorado Springs, which has lots of military targets. They would impact in seconds. I could never get home to see M. again. 

If we were not all vaporized in the initial blast, we'd be stumbling through a nighttime hell of fire and radiation. This was the end. 

Meanwhile, my rational mind was pounding on the door with both fists: "Dude! It's OK! Those are the Northern Lights! Dude! You're not about to die!" 

After a second or two, the panic drained away. Yes, that was the Aurora borealis, and when I came home, she had been watching it too.

Down at the Colorado Spring Sun office, someone one had re-built the front-page layout to include a color (still rare then) photo of the lights in time to put it on the the presses for distribution the next morning.

I have seen many aurora photos on social media this week. No one has mentioned ICBMs or Mutual Assured Destruction. So that's an improvement.